• Dept. of Conservation
  Maine Forest Service
  

In 1983 the Main Forest Service decided to conduct a thorough review of the protection of red spruce (Picea rubens, Sarg.) from spruce budworm defoliation. This work was funded through the Spruce Budworm Management Research program. Dr. Russell Keenan, a private consultant, conducted the review under contract to the Maine Forest Service. Red spruce, once thought to be resistant to budworm attack, is declining at an alarming rate throughout Maine and eastern Canada. Although the rate of decline, as well as the importance of the species, varies from one region to another, the problem has become serious enough to be recognized as a major research priority by most entomologists and foresters working on spruce budworm topics in the various jurisdictions that are currently infested.

In October of 1984, the Maine Forest Service hosted a symposium on spruce protection. The purpose of the symposium was to bring researchers and spray program managers from the numerous agencies that had been studying the spruce problem together to review the status of spruce protection programs and to determine what additional research is needed to improve our ability to protect spruce.