As many people have already heard, the NB Department of Natural Resources working with the forestry companies have detected a potential spruce budworm ‘hot spot’ in the Hornes Gulch (north of Edmundston) and Campbellton region. The densities are still fairly low there (~1-15 larvae per branch) compared to outbreak levels seen these days in Quebec (as many as 200 per branch!). However, this is an ideal opportunity to test the effectiveness of the Early Intervention Strategy, a research program that aims to suppress these spruce budworm ‘hot spots’ before they reach epidemic levels. Treatments will be carried out in these areas in mid-late June and populations monitored to determine if we are successful in our efforts to push the population down.
In the meantime here’s are some pictures of some of my crew working diligently at processing branches for spruce budworm.
