The USDA, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, expanded the areas quarantined for Asian citrus psyllid in California on Nov. 6.
The USDA is expanding the quarantine areas described in DA-2014-46 to include Fresno, Kern, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties, according to a news release. Due to the logistical challenges associated with an expanding 5-mile buffer from subsequent detections of the Asian citrus psyllid, CDFA established county-level quarantines in the state, the release said.
Parallel to CDFA’s quarantine, due to Asian citrus psyllid detections, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is also adding 18 counties in California, the release said: Alameda, Contra Costa, Kings, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Yolo counties.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California, the release said.
These measures parallel the intrastate quarantines that CDFA established.
“This action is necessary to prevent the spread of transmissible disease, such as Huanglongbing (HLB), by [Asian citrus psyllid] to non‑infested areas of the U.S.,” the USDA said in the release.
The specific changes to the quarantine areas are attached and can also be found at the APHIS Asian citrus psyllid website. APHIS will publish a notice of these changes in the Federal Register, the release said.
Additional information is available from the USDA’s Shailaja Rabindran at Shailaja.Rabindran@usda.gov.
