• Kotchian, Nancy M.
  Maine Department of Conservation
  

A steady increase of spruce budworm damage in the Penobscot Valley has forced State and private landowners to pay more attention to forest management techniques in the Spruce-Fir stands. The value of the damaged stands has lessened considerably and landowners are being advised to harvest dead and dying spruce-fir before they are beyond the point of salvaging.

In the past, most of the spraying for SBW took place in northern Maine, where population densities were low, and spruce-fir stands covered much greater acreages than in the Penobscot Valley. Because of public pressure to end the spraying in the Penobscot Valley, and also because of the greater accessibility to harvesting timber than in northern Maine, landowners may not be able to rely on the SBW spray program to continue indefinitely in the Penobscot Valley.

The State SSBW suppression spray program has been scheduled to cease in 1981, and with an increased environmental awareness, it has become more difficult to spray, especially near urban areas, and maintain support from the general public.

This report presents the history of the budworm populations and damage over the past five years in the Penobscot Valley. It also summarizes those attempts made by the State to monitor and control the budworm infestation.