Allison Kanoti News Today

By Elizabeth Walztoni, Bangor Daily News Staff Browntail moth caterpillars are emerging from their nests this week. How fast the invasive insect’s population will expand likely depends on spring rainfall, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Browntail moth caterpillars are emerging from their nests already this spring. Scientists hope spring rain will help keep populations down.

Though the state is 90 percent forested, invasive insects, diseases and a warming climate imperil the health of the trees.

The answer has to do in part with how well you readied the garden last fall.

"Normally when people start to notice that they are impacted by browntail moth, its really too late to do any control."

Four trees infected with the invasive insect were removed on District Road, the first time the city has had to remove trees because of damage caused by the bright green beetle.

The emerald ash borer is continuing to spread across the state. The invasive insect has recently been observed in Lovell, Gray, Lewiston, Waterville and Oakland. These are the first detections in Androscoggin and Kennebec counties.

AUGUSTA - The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestrys (DACF) Maine Forest Service (MFS) has expanded an Emergency Order to restrict the movement of ash from areas likely to harbor emerald ash borer (EAB).

Last June, numerous beachgoers in southern Maine towns like York reported their feet becoming stained by an inky black substance that was tied to the hemlock...

A massive die-off of hemlock woolly adelgid last year left millions of fly corpses along shores and beaches from Maine to Massachusetts.