Seasonal pests come in many forms and one that visits the spruce and balsam forests of the Northeast is budworm.
The season, however, refers not to budworms’ activities. It is about effective human intervention, which is right about now. Careful removal of larvae, damaged trees, and preventive spraying are methods that seem to work, along with mindful tree selection.
Fifty years ago, local television broadcaster WLBZ did a multi-part series on this particular pest, and three of those episodes are posted here to remind us that budworm problems are not new, and neither are the solutions.
https://collection.oldfilm.org/Detail/occurrences/9819
https://collection.oldfilm.org/Detail/occurrences/15888
https://collection.oldfilm.org/Detail/occurrences/4095
The remaining dozen are part of the NHF collection but not currently available on the public website because of withdrawn funding.
