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Maine Forest Service: recent forest tent caterpillar activity centered in Big 6 Township; aerial spray and monitoring options reviewed
Summary
State and regional experts told a workshop audience that a new focus of forest tent caterpillar (FTC) defoliation was identified near the Quebec border in Big 6 Township (3,385 acres mapped in 2024) and reviewed monitoring and management options — including egg-mass surveys, pheromone trapping and possible Btk aerial applications timed to early larval emergence.
A Maine Forest Service workshop on forest tent caterpillar (FTC) on [date] brought state and regional specialists together to lay out where the insect is active, how landowners can monitor for risk and what management choices exist.
Bridal Shapak, an entomologist with the Maine Forest Service, opened the session with an ecological overview of the insect. She emphasized that FTC is a native, cyclical species that typically causes defoliation but does not kill healthy trees outright; outbreaks tend to peak every 10–15 years and last two to four years, though trees already stressed by drought or other factors are at higher risk of long‑term damage.
Gabe Lemay, an entomologist with the Maine Forest Service, presented the agency’s recent surveillance. He said light-trap and aerial/ground surveys show a modest uptick in moth captures and…
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