Dispatches from the Wild: Spruce budworms’ pros and cons

Dispatches from the Wild: Spruce budworms’ pros and cons

By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST Out here in the West, have you ever looked at a green forested hillside and wondered why so many conifers are red, dead or dying? Many of these trees have been defoliated, primarily due to the spruce budworm. In the western United States, spruce budworm infestations affect approximately five