The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently expanded a quarantine area for gypsy moth in Wisconsin and expanded the quarantine area for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) in South Carolina.
APHIS added Eau Claire and Richland Counties in Wisconsin to the list of quarantine areas for gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). To prevent the further spread of gypsy moth, all interstate movement of gypsy-moth-regulated articles from Eau Claire and Richland Counties must be handled in accordance with the Federal Order. Wisconsin has established a parallel state quarantine.
Gypsy moth is a highly destructive insect of approximately 300 species of trees and shrubs. The gypsy-moth program prescribes conditions for the interstate movement of regulated articles from quarantine areas. The federal and state partnership limits the establishment of gypsy moth outside the quarantine area that would result from human-assisted movement of the pest.
The full list of quarantine areas due to the continuing spread of gypsy moth is designated in the federal regulations located in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 7 CFR 301.45-3 and the Federal Orders at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/gypsy-moth-quarantine.
APHIS, in cooperation with the South Carolina Clemson University Department of Plant Industry, added 17.8 square miles of Charleston and Dorchester Counties, South Carolina, to the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis) quarantine area.
APHIS is taking this action in response to the recent detection of ALB-infested trees and to include woody-debris waste facilities that accept regulated host material in the municipalities of Hollywood, Ravenel and Charleston. As a result, the total quarantine area for ALB in Charleston and Dorchester Counties has expanded from 58.6 square miles to 76.4 square miles.
ALB is a destructive wood-boring pest that threatens 12 species of hardwood trees in North America. More information on ALB is available at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/asian-longhorned-beetle.
