The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced Oct. 1 that it was expanding the citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing or HLB) quarantined area in California.
APHIS is adding 155 square miles to the quarantined Murrieta area of Riverside and San Diego counties. This expansion impacts 125.6 acres of commercial citrus. The agency expanded the quarantined area in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
APHIS is taking this action because plant tissue samples from residential properties tested positive for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the bacterium that causes citrus greening. This quarantine expansion parallels CDFA’s intrastate quarantine established on Sept. 11.
APHIS is applying citrus greening safeguarding measures. These requirements govern interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas and help prevent citrus greening from spreading to areas that are not currently infested.
Updated maps and details are available on the APHIS Citrus Greening and Asian Citrus Psyllid webpage.
APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register.
More information is available from APHIS Agriculturist Abby R. Stilwell by email at abby.r.stilwell@usda.gov or by phone at 919-323-6296.
Read another recent announcement about an expansion of the HLB quarantined area in California here.
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