APHIS Expands and Establishes Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing) Quarantine Areas in California

FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION
DA‑2023‑19
October 10, 2023

Subject: APHIS Expands and Establishes Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing) Quarantine Areas in California

To: State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

Effective immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the areas quarantined for Huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening), caused byCandidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, in California. APHIS is adding portions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties in California to the quarantined areas in DA-2022-21. In addition, APHIS is also establishing a quarantine in a portion of Ventura County, California. 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 are attached and can also be found at the APHIS Citrus Greening website.APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register.

For additional information you may contact:

Shailaja Rabindran
Director of Specialty Crops and Cotton Pests
(301) 851-2167
Shailaja.Rabindran@usda.gov

Daniel Murphy
Assistant National Policy Manager
(775) 221-9237
Daniel.m.murphy@usda.gov

/s/

Dr. Mark L Davidson
Deputy Administrator
Plant Protection and Quarantine