Species Groupings

AMABILIS FIR AND WESTERN HEMLOCK (AATH)

APHIS added a new Species Groupings for Amabilis Fir and Western Hemlock (AATH). For the purposes of the Lacey Act Declaration (PPQ Form 505), the AATH species grouping includes the following Species Groupings:

• Amabilis Fir (Abies amabilis) and
• Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)

WESTERN LARCH AND DOUGLAS FIR (LOPM)

APHIS also added a new Species Grouping for Western Larch and Douglas Fir (LOPM). For the purposes of the Lacey Act Declaration (PPQ Form 505), the LOPM species grouping includes the following Species Groupings:

• Western Larch (Larix occidentalis) and
• Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziensii)

These two groups each contain only two species that are similar and not easily distinguished one from another. They also contain common grades of lumber manufactured from varying proportions, commingled, and commonly traded together in individual shipments. Identifying the quantity of each particular species in individual shipments for these would be difficult, costly and/or time consuming.

For shipments of these groupings (AATH and LOPM), the importer may declare the genus as “TEMP” and the species as either “AATH” or “LOPM” to represent the species that may be present in products, including pallets, that contain these species.

Enter the SUD into the “genus” and “species” field(s) for the declaration as shown in this example:

SPRUCE PINE FIR (SPF)

Spruce, Pine, Fir (SPF) is a common grade of lumber manufactured from varying proportions of spruce, pine or fir species. SPF imports are a combination of several distinct species but identifying the particular species in any individual shipment would be difficult, costly, and/or time consuming.

For the purposes of the Lacey Act Declaration (PPQ Form 505), the SPF species grouping includes the following Species Groupings:

• Abies balsamea
• Abies lasiocarpa
• Picea engelmannii
• Picea glauca
• Picea mariana
• Picea rubens
• Picea sitchensis
• Pinus banksiana
• Pinus contorta
• Pinus resinosa

For shipments of SPF, the importer may declare the genus as “Special” and the species as “SPF” to represent that the specific species are unknown but the SPF species grouping represents all possible species that may be present in the product. However, if a species of wood contained in the shipment does not fall under the species grouping list above, the SPF Grouping may not be used in the declaration to identify the genus and species of the plant or plant product being imported.

Enter the SUD into the “genus” and “species” field(s) for the declaration as: 

APHIS has also developed a process for interested parties to request the creation of additional Species Groupings.