NOTICES
Order of Quarantine; Plum Pox Virus
[35 Pa.B. 6543] Recitals
A. The Plant Pest Act (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 of the act (3 P. S. § 258.21) 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. As a result of the presence of PPV in several townships and boroughs, the Department has issued a series of quarantine orders establishing and adjusting a quarantine area.
E. To date, the quarantine orders currently in effect have established a quarantine area for commercial stone fruit orchards covering the following:
* Adams County: Latimore Township and Huntington Township (29 Pa.B. 5735 (November 6, 1999)).
* Cumberland County: South Middleton Township (30 Pa.B. 3269 (July 1, 2000)).
* Adams and Cumberland Counties: Dickinson Township (Cumberland County) and portions of Menallen Township and Tyrone Township (Adams County) (30 Pa.B. 4357 (August 19, 2000)).
* Adams and Cumberland Counties: the Borough of York Springs (Adams County) and the Borough of Mount Holly Springs (Cumberland County) (30 Pa.B. 5852 (November 11, 2000)).
* York County: Franklin Township (31 Pa.B. 3560 (July 7, 2001)).
* York County: Conewago Township and Monaghan Township (32 Pa.B. 4045 (August 17, 2002)).
* Adams County: a portion of Butler Township (33 Pa.B. 5087 (September 26, 2003)) and a portion of Menallen Township (33 Pa.B. 5087 (September 26, 2003)).
F. PPV has since been detected on stone fruit trees located in an area of Menallen Township, Adams County, that is outside the areas covered by either of the two current quarantine orders issued with respect to that township. The Department seeks to consolidate these two earlier quarantine areas, plus the unquarantined area in which PPV has been detected, under a single quarantine order.
G. PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production industry within this Commonwealth.
H. PPV is transmitted from infected trees by aphids and by budding or grafting and can be spread into new areas by movement of infected nursery stock.
I. The movement of PPV-infected fruit trees poses a danger to stone fruit trees in noninfected areas.
J. There is no known control for PPV other than destruction of infected trees.
Order
Under authority of section 21 of the Plant Pest Act (3 P. S. § 258.21), and with the foregoing recitals incorporated by reference, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture hereby orders the following:
1. The quarantine orders issued with respect to portions of Menallen Township, Adams County, published in the August 19, 2000 and September 26, 2003 editions of the Pennsylvania Bulletin (at 30 Pa.B. 4357 and 33 Pa.B. 5087, respectively) are hereby rescinded.
2. A quarantine is hereby established with respect to the portions of Menallen Township, Adams County, described as follows. These areas include the areas originally established in the quarantine orders described in the preceding paragraph, plus the area in which Plum Pox Virus was recently detected. The quarantined area includes the area:
a. Bounded on the North, by the Adams/Cumberland County Line; and
b. Bounded on the East, by the Menallen/Tyrone Township Line; and
c. Bounded on the Southeast, by the Menallen/Butler Township Line extending to Route 34; and
d. Bounded on the West by the following irregular line connecting Route 34 with the Adams/Cumberland County line:
* North along Route 34 to Quaker Valley Road, then:
* West on Quaker Valley Road to Bear Mountain Road; then
* Northwest on Bear Mountain Road 0.3 mile to the culvert of a stream bed (near Met-Ed GPU wooden power pole #13204-22876); then
* Northeast along the stream bed to where it flows to Potato Road (near Met Ed/GPU wooden power pole #13302-23339); then
* Northeast on Potato Road 0.3 mile to the culvert of a stream bed (near Met Ed/GPU power pole #13302-23339); then
* Northeast approximately 200 ft. to a gravel road (Bendersville/Opposum Valley Water System road); then
* Northwest from this intersection, follow a straight line Northwest approximately 3,400 ft. to the intersection of Gotten Lane and Maryland Avenue; then
* Northeast on Maryland Avenue to Pine Ridge Road; then
* North on Pine Ridge Road to Elmwood Lane (locally known as Taylor Lane); then
* Northwest on Elmwood Lane to Bendersville-Wenksville Road; then
* East on Bendersville-Wenksville Road to West Point Road; then
* Northwest on West Point Road to Back Road; then
* West on Back Road to the boundary of Michaux State Forest; then
* North along the border of Michaux State Forest to the Adams/Cumberland County Line.
3. This quarantine prohibits the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood within the quarantined area, and prohibits the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood out of the quarantined area.
4. This quarantine order also prohibits the planting of stone fruit trees (apricot, nectarine, peach and plum) in the quarantined area. This prohibition applies to both fruit-bearing and ornamental varieties of stone fruit trees. Examples of common varieties of ornamental stone fruit trees include purpleleaf plum, flowering almond, flowering peach, purpleleaf sandcherry, flowering cherry, and weeping cherry.
5. PDA will consult with the United States Department of Agriculture, European experts and scientific authorities with respect to the most efficacious measures by which to contain and eliminate this serious plant pest. PDA will issue further restrictions under authority of this Quarantine Order, as is required under the Plant Pest Act (at 3 P. S. § 258.21(a)). These restrictions may address aphid control, elimination or reduction of aphid habitat, destruction of Plum Pox Virus-infected stone fruit trees and budwood, destruction of endangered or exposed stone fruit trees or budwood and any other measures necessary to the containment and elimination of the Plum Pox Virus in this Commonwealth.
6. This Order applies to commercial orchards, commercial nurseries, homeowners and all persons within the quarantine areas described previously.
7. This quarantine is effective as of November 9, 2005.
DENNIS C WOLFF,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 05-2211. Filed for public inspection December 2, 2005, 9:00 a.m.]
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