8988-R5_MSA_March2025_Newsletter_Web

Club Meetings (Cont.)

Western Region

Bog Hooters Snowmobile Club – Meets the Third Wednesday of each month at the Clubhouse, Austin Rd, Mechanic Falls, ME. 6:30 PM Potluck and 7:00 PM Meeting Crooked River Snowmobile Club – Meets the First Saturday of each month at 661 Meadow Rd, Casco, ME at 6:00 PM Denmark Draggers – Meets the Second Monday of each month at the Denmark Municipal Building, 62 E Main St, Denmark, ME at 7:00 PM Hillside Family Riders – Meets the First and Third Monday of the month at Marco’s Restaurant, 12 Mollison Way, Lewiston, ME. Dinner at 5:30 and business meeting at 6:30. NorwayTrackers – Meets the First Tuesday of each month at the Norway Town Hall at 19 Danforth St, Norway, ME. Potluck at 6:15 PM and Meeting at 6:45 PM Pleasant Mountain Snowmobile Club – Meets the Second Friday of each month (Sept – April) at the Bridgton Community Center at 15 Depot Street, Bridgton, ME. 6:00 PM Pot Luck followed by the business meeting at 6:45 PM

Rangeley Lakes SC – Meets the First Friday of the month at the Groomer Barn at 722 Loon Lake Road, Rangeley, ME at 5:00 PM Streaked Mountaineers – Meets the Third Wednesday of the month at Club House 13 School Bus Drive, Buckfield, ME at 6:00 PM Webb River Valley SC – Meets the Second and 4th Thursday of the Month ad 55 Shaine Lane, Carthage, ME 04224 at 6:00 PM WeldWinterWildcats SC – Meets the Second Wednesday of each month at Skool House Variety, 32 School St, Weld, ME at 6:00 PM Wild River Riders – Meets the Second Tuesday of each month at the Gilead Town Office, 8 Depot Street, Gilead at 5:00 PM. See Facebook for meeting updates. North Franklin SC – April 6, 2025 Potluck at 4:00 PM with Supper – meeting will follow at the Shadagee Meeting Room, 2 Shadagee Ln, Phillips, ME Fryeburg Area Snowmobile Assoc – Apr 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM Club Meeting held at Fryeburg Fire Station, 520 Main Street, Fryeburg, ME at 7:00 PM

The Budworm is Back in Town!

Matt Stedman MSA Executive VP

Hello fellow snowmobilers. I wanted to share some information with you as a forester, snowmobiler and active outdoorsman. I understand that most all of you enjoy the great outdoors in our Maine more than just during the snowmobile season. Below is some information on a forest pest that has been here before and will be here again.

Article by Bill Greaves, North Maine Woods

by 60-80%. Maine will take a similar approach, as it has shown to be the most effective in managing budworm popu lations and preventing large-scale tree mortality. Beginning in May 2025, landowners will treat approximately 250,000 acres with a targeted treatment program aimed at specific high-infestation areas. Much of this acreage will be in the North Maine Woods. This is a $15 million project for 2025 alone but will counter a potential $794 million loss to the largest natural resource industry in Maine. Without early intervention, Maine could suffer a loss of 3,865 jobs, or about 12% of the industry. If you are reading this article, chances are good that you either make a living in the woods or have a passion for recre ating there. You may take part in hunting, fishing, viewing wildlife, or just plain enjoy being outside. None of this would be tak ing place, if it were not for landowners supporting public access to their land. Please join me in showing some gratitude by supporting these landowners in their effort to combat this destructive insect before budworm populations can reach an unmanageable level. Having said that, the intent of this arti cle is to provide preliminary information to help you plan for this summer’s activi ties. The window for the EIS treatments in

area will be around Sinclair just south of the Lakeview restaurant. During the treatment period, public access will be restricted. Signs will be in place and there will be people monitoring all activ ity. Please heed the signs and stay clear of the restricted area during this short time frame. This is a small sacrifice to support our public and private landowners, and the people they employ. Again, early inter vention is the key to reducing the bud worm population before it becomes much more costly and difficult to contain. We appreciate your cooperation. There will be more detailed information available as the treatment window gets closer. For more information about the Spruce Budworm project, please visit: https://maineforest.org/ spruce-budworm/ https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/ forest_health/insects/spruce_bud worm_2014.htm The author is the Executive Director of North Maine Woods Inc. He has lived and worked here his entire life, retiring after 33 years as a Maine Forest Ranger. Addition ally, he worked for the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.

H istory tends to repeat itself, and the infestation of the Spruce Budworm is no exception. Those of us who have spent the last 50 years working and play ing in the North Maine Woods remember the old budworm days of the 70’s & 80’s. It destroyed more than 7 million acres of spruce and fir, and the forest products industry lost tens of millions of dollars. Today, the budworm is back in town! Spruce Budworm is one of the most damaging forest pests in North America. Larvae feed on the buds and needles of host trees, which, left untreated, will kill the trees. The mortality rate can be 30-66% of spruce trees and 84-97% of fir trees. As the infestation has spread in Canada, New Brunswick has taken an approach called the Early Interven tion Strategy (EIS). This approach relies on intensive monitoring to detect ris ing spruce budworm populations early, enabling timely intervention as the bud worm begins to emerge in the spring time. With early, targeted treatment in these areas, populations have decreased Spruce Budworm in destructive feeding larvae stage

Recent effects of Spruce Budworm defoliation and tree mortality in Quebec

the North Maine Woods is during the last two weeks of May and the first two weeks of June. The exact timing is weather dependent, and of course dependent on the emergence of the Spruce Bud worm. The potential coverage area in the North Maine Woods is from Daaquam to Escourt, and from the Quebec border to the St. John River. Another treatment Map showing overwintering population of Spruce budworm based on 2024/2025 sam ples. Updates can be found at maineforest. org/spruce-budworm/

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