Federal and state officials in late June expanded the areas quarantined for huanglongbing (HLB, also known as citrus greening), caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, in California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) took the action in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
(Photo courtesy of Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program)
APHIS added portions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties to the quarantined areas. With the expansion of the Jurupa Valley and Riverside areas of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the HLB quarantine area, CDFA merged the HLB quarantine boundaries, creating a single HLB quarantine. That quarantine expands across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. In addition, APHIS is establishing a quarantine in a portion of San Diego County. APHIS is taking this action because of HLB detections in plant tissue samples collected from multiple locations during routine surveys in California.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of HLB to non-infested areas of the United States. The specific changes to the quarantined areas in California can be found here.
APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register. Additional information may be obtained from Director of Specialty Crops and Cotton Pests Shailaja Rabindran at 301-851-2167.
California’s Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program (CPDPP) recently issued its annual report about HLB. That report noted that the state’s commercial citrus groves remain free of HLB disease 14 years after HLB-spreading Asian citrus psyllids were first detected there. The CPDPP works with numerous agricultural and citrus industry partners to advance its goal of limiting HLB’s spread.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
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