• Devine, Michael E.
  Maine Forest Service
  
• Connor, Jonathan Y.
  Maine Forest Service
  

The spruce budworm population in the Moosehorn Wild1ife Refuge in

Edmunds, Maine reached an extreme level in 1974 due to massive flights of

gravid female moths. Severe larval feeding occurred in 1975 and subsequently

the Refuge was recommended by the Maine Forest Service (M.F.S.)

for treatment in 7976.

The Refuge, managed by the United States Fish and Wildlífe Service

(U.S.F.W.S.), is maintained primarily for the preservation of wildlife

habitat. The no spray policy in the Refuge, adopted by the U.S.F.W.S.

in 1976, provided the M.F.S. an opportunity to assess the effects of an

uncontrolled spruce budworm infestation on a spruce-fir forest.

The M.F.S. conducted its first survey of the Refuge in February 1978.

In the original survey the untreated Refuge was compared to nearby sprayed

areas, but these areas were not protected as recommended after 1977. The

current resurvey evaluates the continuing deterioration of the spruce-fir

component in the Refuge, but sprayed versus unsprayed comparisons are

no longer possible.