Federal and state officials have removed and reduced Oriental fruit fly (OFF) quarantines in two California counties and expanded the huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine in another county. The actions were taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
ORIENTAL FRUIT FLY
On July 5, the agencies released portions of Riverside County from the Riverside/San Bernardino OFF quarantine. The areas released include the cities of Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley and Riverside.
The reduction of the Riverside/San Bernardino quarantine releases 189 square miles, including 4,700 acres of commercial agriculture, from quarantine. Approximately 365 square miles remain under quarantine, primarily in San Bernardino County, including 1,800 acres of commercial agriculture.
On July 6, the agencies removed the OFF quarantine in Brentwood in Contra Costa County. Release from quarantine occurred after three OFF generations elapsed with no additional detections in these areas.
The removal of the Contra Costa County quarantine releases 99 square miles, including 939 acres of commercial agriculture, from quarantine.
The removal and reduction of these quarantine areas is reflected on the APHIS Exotic Fruit Flies website, which contains a description of all current federal fruit fly quarantine areas.
HLB
USDA APHIS, in cooperation with CDFA, recently expanded the area quarantined for HLB, also known as citrus greening, in Los Angeles County by 4 square miles. The action was taken because of HLB detections in plant tissue samples collected from a residential property in Los Angeles County. There is no commercial citrus impacted by this expansion.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established on June 26. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of HLB to non‑infested areas of the United States.
The specific changes to the quarantined area in California can be found on the APHIS Citrus Greening website.
Source: USDA APHIS
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