A nondescript caterpillar crawls across the hand, symbolizing an arduous journey to a Gros Morne National Park campground. The park’s forest, mostly grey and bare in July, bears witness to the impact of the spruce budworm outbreak. Joe Bowden, a Natural Resources Canada research scientist, emphasizes the rapid landscape transformation caused by these insect outbreaks, second only to wildfires.
Spruce budworm, a native insect, has wreaked havoc across North America, originating in Quebec and spreading to Newfoundland via wind currents. The park is a focal point of Newfoundland’s budworm outbreak, a cyclical event occurring every few decades. The last major outbreak in the 1970s devastated a significant portion of the island’s coniferous trees.
To combat history from repeating itself, Newfoundland and Labrador initiated the Early Intervention Strategy (EIS) in collaboration with federal entities, industry partners, and researchers. The strategy involves targeted spraying of caterpillar clusters with a biological insecticide, Btk. The approach has proven effective in preventing full-blown outbreaks, with New Brunswick successfully managing budworm populations for over a decade.
Despite concerns over environmental impact, Btk is a safe and targeted solution, minimally affecting non-target species. The goal is not eradication but to maintain budworm populations at manageable levels. Gros Morne National Park chose not to participate in the spraying, opting to observe nature’s course, leading to extensive forest damage within its boundaries.
The outbreak’s ripple effects extend beyond ecological concerns, prompting a study of its human impacts by researchers at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University. The project aims to quantify nature’s value to humans and its alteration during an outbreak. By incorporating community perspectives, the research seeks to provide policymakers with a holistic understanding for future decisions on managing such natural phenomena.