KENNEBUNK — The effects of the browntail moth on the coastal area of Kennebunkport and Biddeford will be the focus of a panel presentation later this month in Kennebunk.

The presentation will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28 at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, 57 Gravelly Brook Road, Kennebunkport. 

The event is sponsored by the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, Maine Forest Service, Maine Board of Pesticides Control and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The browntail moth, a destructive, invasive insect, can defoliate a tree just as buds are opening in the spring. and the moth’s microscopic hairs also can cause rash and respiratory problems in humans.

Panel members include Amanda Couture, Board of Pesticides Control; Kyle Rosenberg, arborist; Frank Wertheim, UMaine Extension educator; and representatives from KCT and the medical community. 

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information or to request a disability accommodation, contact frank.wertheim@maine.edu or call 324-2814.

As a trusted resource for more than 100 years, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine’s land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county.

UMaine Extension helps support, sustain and grow the food-based economy and it is the only entity in our state that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated.

The organization also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H.