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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 05-150

NOTICES

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Plum Pox Virus; Order of Quarantine

[35 Pa.B. 552]

Recitals

   A.  The Plant Pest Act (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27) empowers the Department of Agriculture (Department) to take various measures to detect, contain and eradicate plant pests in this Commonwealth.

   B.  The powers granted the Department under section 21 the Plant Pest Act (3 P. S. § 258.21) include the power to establish quarantines to prevent the dissemination of plant pests within this Commonwealth.

   C.  Plum Pox Virus (PPV)--a plant pest indigenous to Europe--is a serious plant pest that injures and 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.

   D.  PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production industry within this Commonwealth.

   E.  The two primary means by which PPV spreads are: a) through propagation of infected trees and subsequent movement of infected nursery material; and b) through aphid transmission of PPV from infected to healthy trees.

   F.  The movement of PPV-infected nursery trees provides the most serious threat of long distance movement of the virus and poses a danger to stone fruit trees in noninfected areas.

   G.  There is no known control for PPV other than destruction of infected trees.

   H.  PPV has been detected on stone fruit trees located in portions of four counties of this Commonwealth.

   I.  The Department exercised its statutory authority and established a quarantine in portions of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York Counties prohibiting the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood within the quarantined area, and prohibiting the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood out of the quarantined area.

   J.  No practical quarantine area can completely limit movement of infectious aphids from within to outside the area.

   K.  Isolation distance requirements for production and propagation of Prunus nursery stock set forth in the March 18, 2002, PPV Order of Quarantine (published at 32 Pa.B. 1663 (March 30, 2002)) to safeguard against movement of virus into nursery material have proven insufficient to prevent virus movement into nursery stock.

   L.  The United States Department of Agriculture's PPV Science Issues Working Group has suggested that it would be reasonable to adopt isolation distance requirements for production and propagation of Prunus nursery stock from the North American Plant Protection Organization Regional Standard No. 18, entitled Guidelines for Phytosanitary Action Following Detection of Plum Pox Virus. This standard calls for a 1.5 km distance between PPV positive finds and the PPV quarantine boundary, and an additional 10 km distance between that boundary and any Prunus nursery production.

   M.  PPV may not be detectable within a tree newly infected by aphids before that tree is used as a budwood source for propagation of nursery stock or is moved as nursery stock itself.

Order

   Under authority of section 21 of the Plant Pest Act, and with the foregoing recitals incorporated herein, the Department hereby orders the following:

   1.  Rescinding Previous Quarantine Order. The previous quarantine order addressing nursery stock propagation, issued March 18, 2002, and published at 32 Pa.B. 1663 is hereby rescinded.

   2.  PPV Nursery Quarantine Area. The PPV Nursery Quarantine Area is comprised of the following:

   a.  Any area within 11.5 kilometers (7.15 miles) of any location from which a PPV-positive sample has been detected within the preceding 3 years. (These PPV-positive locations and the 11.5-kilometer radius from these locations are identified on maps that are available from the Department upon request. The 11.5-kilometer radius is determined using location readings received from global positioning satellites (GPS) and the computer-assisted calculations of a geographical information system. The Department shall, upon request, visit any site to take GPS readings and determine whether that site is within the quarantine area.)

   b.  Any area that is or has been subject to a PPV-related quarantine order issued by this Department, or that is subsequently made subject to an order. The quarantine area includes the following:

Within Adams County:

   *  Huntington Township

   *  Latimore Township

   *  That portion of Menallen Township located to the east of the rough north-to-south line extending from the northern border of the township, south on State Route 4007 (Pine Grove Furnace Road) to State Route 4008, south on State Route 4008 to Route 34 (at Bendersville), and south on Route 34 to the southern border of that township. To this was added that roughly-triangular portion of Menallen Township adjacent to it, being bounded as follows:

   *  On the North, by the Adams/Cumberland County Line;

   *  On the East, by Pine Grove Furnace Road;

   *  On the Southwest, by a line extending from the intersection of Pine Grove Furnace Road (SR 4007) and Bendersville-Wenksville Road (SR 4008), along Bendersville-Wenksville Road to West Point Road, along West Point Road to Back Road (T386), along Back Road to Coon Road (SR 4012), along Coon Road to the Michaux State Forest and along the boundary of the Michaux State Forest to the Adams/Cumberland County Line.

   *  That portion of Tyrone Township located to the north of Route 234.

   *  Borough of York Springs

   *  That portion of southwestern Butler Township having a roughly-rectangular shape and being bounded as follows:

   *  On the East, by Pennsylvania State Highway Route 34 (Biglerville Road);

   *  On the South, by the Cumberland Township Line;

   *  On the West, by the Franklin Township Line, continuing Northwest to Blue Ribbon Road, east along Blue Ribbon Road to Beecherstown Road, along Beecherstown Road to Rose Lane, along Rose Lane to Ziegler Mill Road, and east along Ziegler Mill Road to the intersection of State Highway Route 34.

Within Cumberland County:

   *  Dickinson Township

   *  South Middleton Township

   *  Southampton Township

   *  Borough of Mount Holly Springs

Within Franklin County:

   *  Quincy Township

   *  Borough of Mont Alto

Within York County:

   *  Conewago Township

   *  Franklin Township

   *  Monaghan Township

   *  Washington Township

   3.  PPV Nursery Quarantine Area Standards and Restrictions. The quarantine standards and restrictions to be followed by sellers and propagators of susceptible Prunus within the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area are as follows:

   a.  No Prunus within the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area shall be used as a source of propagative material (either rootstock or scion). Any propagator may contact the Department for approval of sites of budwood source trees, if there is any question about their location in relation to the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area.

   b.  No Prunus nursery stock shall be planted in the ground in the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area. No Prunus growing within the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area may be dug and moved.

   4.  Duration of Quarantine Restrictions. The restrictions on propagation or movement of Prunus in the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area described in this Order shall remain in effect until this Order is amended or rescinded. It is the intention of the Department to keep these restrictions in place for approximately 3 years after it lifts the other PPV-related quarantine orders currently in place.

   5.  Limited Statewide Quarantine. No Prunus located within this Commonwealth shall be used as a source of propagative material (either rootstock or scion) unless it has been tested in the year of its intended use, and has tested negative for PPV using the protocol described for mother trees in the National PPV Surveillance Program. Testing will be done by the Department or by a laboratory approved by the Department.

   6.  Monitoring and Enforcement. The Department has the authority to do monitoring and auditing of records as it deems necessary to show that this Order is being followed. Failure to comply with this Order may result in the destruction of nursery stock produced from untested or unapproved sources, and destruction of all PPV-susceptible nursery stock within 500 meters of that nursery stock, with no compensation for costs of destruction or loss.

   This quarantine is effective as of January 5, 2005, and shall remain in effect until terminated by subsequent order.

DENNIS C WOLFF,   
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 05-150. Filed for public inspection January 21, 2005, 9:00 a.m.]


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