NOTICES
Order of Quarantine; Plum Pox Virus
[33 Pa.B. 40] The Department of Agriculture (Department) issues a quarantine order under authority of the Plant Pest Act (act) (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27). This order is directed to the Counties of Adams, Cumberland, York and Franklin, and requires the removal and destruction of stone fruit trees located in untended stone fruit orchards in those designated counties.
Recitals
1. The act empowers the Department to take various measures to detect, contain and eradicate plant pests in this Commonwealth.
2. The powers granted to the Department under section 21 of the act (3 P. S. § 258.21) include the power to establish quarantines to prevent the dissemination of plant pests within this Commonwealth.
3. Plum Pox Virus (PPV)--a plant pest indigenous to Europe--is a serious plant pest that damages stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots by drastically reducing the fruit yields from these stone fruit trees and by disfiguring the fruit to the point it is unmarketable.
4. PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production industry within this Commonwealth.
5. The two primary means of spreading of PPV include: (a) through propagation of infected trees and subsequent movement of infected nursery material; and (b) through aphid transmission of the virus from infected to healthy trees.
6. The movement of PPV-infected trees provides the most serious threat of long distance movement of the virus and poses a danger to stone fruit trees in non-infected areas.
7. There is no known control for PPV other than destruction of infected trees.
8. PPV has been detected on stone fruit trees located in portions of four counties of this Commonwealth.
9. The Department has previously exercised its statutory authority and--through a series of orders--established a quarantine with respect to portions of the four counties that are the subject of this quarantine order. The orders prohibited the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood within the quarantined area, and prohibited the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood out of the quarantined area. These quarantine orders covered the following areas:
Adams County: Latimore and Huntington Townships (29 Pa.B. 5735 (November 6, 1999)), parts of Menallen and Tyrone Townships (30 Pa.B. 4357 (August 19, 2000)) and the Borough of York Springs (30 Pa.B. 5852 (November 11, 2000)).
Cumberland County: South Middleton Township (30 Pa.B. 3269 (July 1, 2000)), Dickinson Township (30 Pa.B. 4357 (August 19, 2000)), the Borough of Mount Holly Springs (30 Pa.B. 5852 (November 11, 2000)) and Southampton Township (31 Pa.B. 3559 (July 7, 2001)).
Franklin County: Borough of Mont Alto and Quincy Township (31 Pa.B. 5117 (September 8, 2001)).
York County: Franklin and Washington Townships (31 Pa.B. 3559 (July 7, 2001)) and Conewago and Monaghan Townships (32 Pa.B. 4045 (August 17, 2002)).
10. No practical quarantine area can completely limit movement of infectious aphids from within to outside the area.
11. The Department's authority to impose quarantines to detect, contain and eradicate PPV includes the authority to impose quarantines in the geographic areas in which PPV is detected and in any adjacent areas as the Department deems necessary.
12. PPV may not be detectable within a tree newly-infected with PPV by aphids before that tree is used as a budwood source for propagation of nursery stock.
13. Untended stone fruit orchards--orchards that are no longer used for commercial production of stone fruit--can serve as reservoirs for both native and exotic species of plant pests, including PPV, and therefore pose a threat to this Commonwealth's stone fruit industry.
14. Untended stone fruit orchards within proximity of the current PPV-quarantined areas have the potential to act as reservoirs for PPV and aphids capable of spreading PPV. Removal and destruction of untended stone fruit orchards will eliminate these unmanaged sources of plant pests, and will greatly facilitate the containment and eradication of PPV in this Commonwealth.
15. Owners of untended stone fruit orchards located in the four-county quarantine area established by this Order will receive treatment orders from the Department, directing the destruction or removal of untended stone fruit trees in these orchards.
16. Owners who incur costs as a result of the referenced treatment order may apply to the Department for a grant to cover these costs. The Department has authority under its Plum Pox Virus Untended Stone Fruit Orchard Indemnity Program (Program) to issue grants, provided the conditions of that Program are met and funding is available.
Order
The Department issues the following quarantine order under authority of section 21 of the act:
1. The recitals previously set forth are incorporated into this Order.
2. The area affected by this quarantine order consists of the following counties: Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York.
3. The Department will locate and identify untended stone fruit orchards throughout this quarantine area, and issue treatment orders directing the destruction or removal of untended stone fruit trees and any other measures reasonably necessary to prevent resultant erosion of the land.
4. The work required under the treatment order shall either be performed by a contractor hired at the Department's expense or at the landowner's expense. If the latter, the landowner may apply to the Department for a reimbursement grant under the Department's Program. The grant may also reimburse the landowner for the cost of seeding the cleared area with grass or similar vegetative coverage to prevent soil erosion.
This quarantine is effective as of December 19, 2002, and shall remain in effect until terminated by subsequent order.
SAMUEL E. HAYES, Jr.,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 03-20. Filed for public inspection January 3, 2003, 9:00 a.m.]
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