One of the most destructive pests in Maine’s forests is back. The eastern spruce budworm is a species of moth whose caterpillar voraciously eats the needles off of coniferous trees. The insect is native to Maine and naturally has an outbreak cycle of 30 to 60 years.Neil Thompson, assistant professor of forestry at the University of Maine at Fort Kent explained that the moths lay eggs in summer, and then the larvae burrow into the bud in the spring and eat the needles when they sprout. “It’s a fascinating bug.” Maine has experienced outbreaks of spruce budworm in the past, most notably in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The reemergence of the pest has prompted the University of Maine to reopen a state task force to control its population and debut a new lab, the first of its kind in the country, to keep up with testing for its presence.