NOTICES
Plum Pox Virus Noncommercial Prunus Tree and Landscape Nursery Prunus Tree Indemnity Program
[31 Pa.B. 2936] The Department of Agriculture (Department) hereby gives notice of the procedures and requirements under which it will award grants to owners of ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees or shrubs when these trees or shrubs are: (1) located within the quarantine area described; (2) destroyed by order of the Department as part of its ongoing Plum Pox Virus (PPV) containment and eradication effort; and (3) not otherwise eligible for reimbursement of removal, destruction and loss of these trees under existing reimbursement grant programs. This program will be known as the Plum Pox Virus Noncommercial Prunus Tree and Landscape Nursery Prunus Tree Indemnity Program (Program).
PPV afflicts trees and shrubs in the genus Prunus. These trees include apricot, plum, peach, nectarine and other fruit trees used in commercial fruit production, and also include various ornamental and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs that are in popular use in residential backyard planting and landscaping.
In summary, the Program complements two other programs under which the Department provides partial indemnification for losses sustained by stone fruit tree owners:
1. The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were published at 30 Pa. Bulletin 4014 (August 5, 2000) and 30 Pa. Bulletin 6608 (December 23, 2000); and
2. The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were published at 30 Pa. Bulletin 4737 (September 9, 2000).
Rather than focusing on stone fruit trees located in commercial orchards or commercial fruit tree nurseries, the Program focuses on: (1) those ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees or shrubs that are located in residential yards, business curtilages, parks and similar locations within 500 meters of PPV-infected blocks of trees; and (2) those ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees or shrubs that are located at landscape nurseries located within the PPV-Quarantine area. Since PPV is transmitted from tree-to-tree by aphids, these stone fruit trees are at risk of infection by PPV, and could become reservoirs from which aphids could spread PPV beyond the areas where it is currently known to be present.
Authority
Section 208 of the General Appropriation Act of 2000 (act of May 24, 2000) (No. 21A) appropriates the sum of $3,100,000 to the Department for fruit tree indemnity payments related to PPV.
Background
Under the authority and responsibility imparted it under the Plant Pest Act (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27), the Department has established PPV-related quarantines in several townships and boroughs in Adams and Cumberland Counties. In Cumberland County these quarantines cover South Middleton Township, Dickinson Township and the Borough of Mount Holly Springs. In Adams County these quarantines cover Huntington Township, Latimore Township, part of Menallen Township, part of Tyrone Township and the entire Borough of York Springs. The areas covered by these quarantine orders (and any area designated in any subsequent PPV-related quarantine order) are referred to collectively as the ''PPV quarantine area.'' PPV 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. PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production and stone fruit nursery industries within this Commonwealth. PPV is transmitted from infected trees by aphids and by budding or grafting with PPV-infected plant material.
The Department has located PPV in stone fruit trees within the PPV quarantine area. To date, these PPV-infected trees have been within commercial stone fruit orchards. Since PPV is transmitted from tree-to-tree by aphids, the Department has determined it reasonable to order the destruction of any stone fruit tree within a 500-meter radius of a block of stone fruit trees in which PPV has been detected. In its surveys of these 500-meter buffer zones, the Department has discovered a number of ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees or shrubs that are not used in commercial stone fruit production. Typically, these are ornamental trees on residential properties or unattended fruit-bearing trees growing wild in unmaintained fields. These trees are considered to be potential hosts of PPV. The Department's most recent partial survey of the PPV quarantine area has identified 48 residential properties, with a total of 127 trees or shrubs, located within these 500-meter buffer zones. These at-risk trees and shrubs pose a serious plant pest threat to the commercial stone fruit industry. It is important to the Department's PPV containment and eradication effort that these trees and shrubs be destroyed.
The Department is also aware of ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees and shrubs at several landscape nurseries located in the PPV quarantine area. For purposes of the Program, a ''landscape nursery'' is a business that has ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus trees or shrubs in stock for sale for residential and landscape planting, rather than for commercial fruit production. The Department acknowledges that the wholesale price paid for these at-risk trees and shrubs by the landscape nurseries does not accurately reflect the value of the pesticides, herbicides, labor and other ''inputs'' the landscape nurseries have invested in preparing these trees for sale.
The Plant Pest Act and the current PPV-related quarantine orders issued under authority of that statute provide the Department with the authority to order destruction of plants in order to protect this Commonwealth's agriculture. Neither the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program nor the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program make provision for reasonable reimbursement to homeowners or owners of landscape nurseries when, through Treatment Orders issued by the Department, trees owned by either are ordered destroyed. This Program serves to fill that gap.
Eligibility
The Department will make a reimbursement grant to any person whose Prunus tree or shrub is ordered destroyed by the Department, provided the tree or shrub owner meets the following conditions:
1. The applicant owns the tree or shrub ordered destroyed by the Department.
2. The tree or shrub is either:
a. Located within a 500-meter buffer zone around a block of stone fruit trees that have tested positive for PPV; or
b. Located at a landscape nursery within the PPV quarantine area.
3. The applicant is not entitled to reimbursement for destruction or replacement of the tree under either the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program or the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program
Application Procedure
A person seeking a grant under the Program shall apply for a grant using a reimbursement grant application/agreement form provided by the Department. These forms may be obtained at the following address.
Grant Amount
a. Noncommercial Prunus Trees and Shrubs. If the grant applicant is the owner of an ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus tree or shrub that is located in a residential yard, business curtilage, park or similar location within 500 meters of PPV-infected block of trees, and the Department approves a grant application under the Program, it shall reimburse the tree or shrub owner the sum of $25 for each tree or shrub ordered destroyed and removed by the Department. The Department shall also reimburse the applicant for the actual costs incurred in destroying and removing the tree.
If the grant applicant is the owner of an unattended ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus tree or shrub growing wild, the Department shall only reimburse the applicant for the actual cost incurred in destroying and removing the tree.
b. Landscape Nursery Prunus Trees and Shrubs. If the grant applicant is the owner of an ornamental or fruit-bearing Prunus tree or shrub that is located at a landscape nursery owned by the applicant and located within the PPV quarantine area, the Department will pay as compensation for destroyed stock the price at which the landscape nursery offers the tree for sale to its retail customers. The Department will also pay for reasonable costs of destruction, if performed by the nursery or dealer in the timeframe specified in the treatment order. The grant applicant must--prior to the issuance of a treatment order by the Department--provide the Department a list of Prunus stock species (common and scientific names), total number of trees or shrubs of that species and size of each tree or shrub. The grant applicant shall also provide invoices for purchase of acquired Prunus stock to the Department upon request. No treatment order will be issued with respect to Prunus stock that has already been destroyed, or which is otherwise not available to the Department for inspection as to size and type.
Additional Information
Applications and further information can be obtained by contacting the Department of Agriculture, Attn: Lyle B. Forer, Director, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408, (717) 772-5203.
SAMUEL E. HAYES, Jr.,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 01-989. Filed for public inspection June 8, 2001, 9:00 a.m.]
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