Maine’s new strategy to stop another insect disaster in the North Woods

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2026

Christmas tree farmers in Aroostook County knew trouble was ahead when swarms of spruce budworm moths, some massive enough to be visible on radar, started riding wind currents from Canada into northern Maine in 2019. Within a couple years, Ben Voisine, manager of Allagash View Farms in New Canada, noticed the insects defoliating his trees. Insect specialists say the outbreak, if left unchecked, could last another 10 years and cost Maine’s timber industry $800 million a year. This time, instead of the broad pesticide spraying that failed to stop the last major outbreak, the state is targeting only the most heavily infested areas, and only when the insects are at their most vulnerable stage.