Thank you for your report! The specimen on your spreading board is European lesser yellow underwing (Noctua comes), which is also established in Oregon. Although both the Lesser yellow underwing and the Large yellow underwing feed on a wide variety of plants as larvae, conifers are not usual hosts (as you note). Those defoliated branches don't really look like caterpillar damage -- are the needles chewed off, or has the branch died back? Spruce in the valley shows damage that may look like this from heat or drought stress. Insect damage may be secondary.

Tom Valente
July 28, 2025, 3:35 a.m.