Sen. Collins Urges Forest Service Chief to Deploy Spruce Budworm Funding

Q&A on Spruce Budworm in Maine

Click HERE to watch and HERE to download video of their exchange.

Washington, D.C. - At a hearing to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget request for the United States Forest Service, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, asked Chief Tom Schultz to commit to the quick release of funding to prevent the spread of spruce budworm in Maine during a critical window for spraying. Sen. Collins secured $14 million in 2024 supplemental appropriations and another $10 million in the FY 2026 Interior Appropriations Bill to effectively spray and treat forests to prevent an outbreak of spruce budworm.

Q&A on Spruce Budworm in Maine

Senator Collins: Mr. Schultz, welcome. Maine, as you may know, is considered to be the most heavily forested state in the nation. Eighty-eight percent of our land is covered by forests. Our forest products industry supports approximately 30,000 jobs across all of Maine's 16 counties, with most of those jobs concentrated in northern and western Maine and other rural areas of our state.

That is why the threat posed by the outbreak in upper northern New England, and also Canada, of the spruce budworm is so critical. This is a moth that, as I'm sure you're aware, does cause substantial damage to our forests. I have seen photographs of the Canadian forests that were not promptly sprayed with a safe pesticide, versus the American side, which was, and the difference is night and day.

To combat the spread of the spruce budworm, I secured $14 million in 2024 supplemental appropriations, which private landowners and the state also contributed to this pot of money, to do effective spraying. There is, at my request, another $10 million in the FY 26 Interior Appropriations Bill. It is absolutely crucial that these funds be deployed in a timely manner so that the spraying can occur when it is most effective. There's a real window for spraying, and the first was coordinated very, very well between the public and private sectors. So chief, could you tell me how you plan to use the FY 26 funds to address this ongoing threat?

Chief Schultz: Madam Chairman, Senator Collins, thank you for the question. I did have a call recently with Mr. Ingraham from Maine, who was one of the contractors that's actually doing the work on the ground. And he shared with me the results from last year, and the efficacy rates were probably in excess of 90 precent exactly what you're stating.

I lived in Helena, Montana. The Helena National Forest had a huge outbreak. Same thing with spruce budworm, it defoliates the trees. It reduces growth rates. It can lead to mortality. It's a significant problem. So that the funding you secured last year was very effective.

The funding this year, we are working right now through that process to make those funds available. I expect, when talking with Mr. Ingraham, I think their intent is to spray in the next several weeks, two to three weeks, is what he indicated to me. So, we are coming up on that time frame.

We're working currently with the state to make those funds available to the state. So, I would expect that those would be available here shortly, to the state to pursue that and use those contractors to get that work done.

Senator Collins: That is very good news, because as you know, there's a critical window there, and if the spraying does not occur during that time, you can't get ahead of it. And unfortunately, we've seen our neighbors to the north not have as effective a process, and the devastation is just remarkable, as is the contrast. So, thank you for your commitment to get that money out.

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