Over the last two years, millions of moths took to the skies above the cold waters of Atlantic Canada, flying a treacherous journey across the Gulf of St. Lawrence from sunset until dawn. …Since 2018, the budworm population has gone from trace amounts in Canada’s easternmost province, to severe damage in some locations. …Three species of budworm — the western spruce, the jack pine, and the eastern spruce — are causing havoc in Canada’s forests right now, with tens of millions of hectares affected, threatening the country’s natural carbon stocks. “We can actually see them on radar,” said Jacques Régnière, a research scientist in insect population dynamics at the Laurentian Forestry Centre in Quebec, part of the Canadian Forest Service at Natural Resources Canada. …Three years ago, the main outbreak of budworm was concentrated in Quebec. But the spruce budworm has continued to increase in Ontario and Manitoba.