• Dexter, James P.
  University of Maine Graduate School
  

This paper examines what integrated pest management (IPM) is and how it can be implemented as part of the overall forest management of the spruce-fir forest. IPM is the maintenance of destructive agents, including insects, at tolerable levels by the planned use of a variety of preventative, suppressive, or regulating tactics and strategies that are ecologically and economically efficient and socially acceptable. It is implied that the actions taken are fully integrated into the total resource management process -- in both planning and operation (Waters, 1974). Guidelines for IPM programs are provided. Since the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana [Clements]) is the major, or key pest of the spruce-fir cover the, it's management is featured in this report. The budworm's biology and impact on the forest, and methods of monitoring and controlling the budworm population are reviewed, because an understanding of these topics is vital to creating an IPM program. Guidelines for evaluating proposed control strategies, both by economic and other standards, are discussed.