Press Release
| Claude Knighten |
(301) 734-5271 |
| Jerry Redding |
(202) 720-6959 |
USDA TAKES ACTION IN THREE STATES TO HALT SPREAD OF PLANT FUNGUS
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 27, 2004–The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced that it is regulating
the interstate movement of plants from commercial nurseries in California,
Oregon and Washington to prevent the spread of Phytophthora ramorum,
or sudden oak death, to noninfested areas of the United States.
Under
the new federal order, California, Oregon and Washington nursery owners
who ship P. ramorum host and associated host plants interstate
must have their nursery stock inspected, sampled and tested by state
officials before those plants can be transported across state lines. Among
the plants susceptible to this pathogen are rhododendron, camellias
and 66 other plant species. In addition, nurseries that ship
nonhost plants interstate must undergo a visual inspection to ensure
those plants are not exhibiting P. ramorum symptoms before
interstate shipment. The order will go into effect on Jan. 10,
2005.
The
new measures address the discovery of the P. ramorum pathogen
in commercial nurseries in Washington, and in nurseries outside of
the already established quarantined areas in California and Oregon. This
action also puts new restrictions on nurseries in the quarantined areas
that ship nonhost nursery stock interstate.
In
April, APHIS restricted the interstate movement of several varieties
of P. ramorum hosts and associated plants from California
nurseries to prevent further spread of the disease while California
Department of Food and Agriculture and federal officials traced infected
plants nationally.
P.
ramorum was first seen in Mill Valley, Calif., on tanoak in
1995. The fungus is now known to exist in nature in 14 northern
California counties and in Curry County, Ore. Those counties
are under a federal quarantine to prevent the movement of regulated
and restricted articles.
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