Two LBAMs in two counties = no federal quarantine

When it comes to the light brown apple moth (LBAM), as Sonoma growers learned in April, two’s not company – it’s quarantine.  Thus, a third LBAM, confirmed on August 13 in the southeastern part of the county, triggered heightened vigilance and concern. Another nearby detection would mean growers would be slammed with another federal quarantine – unless the fourth moth, as the state announced yesterday, happened to be nabbed in a Napa County trap.
According to California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) representative Steve Lyle, there have now been a third and a fourth LBAM detection –  but in separate counties. “One of those is right on the border of Napa County,” he said, “about seven and a half miles southeast of the area now quarantined, where the first two were discovered. The second find is less than a mile and a half due east, over the border, in Napa County.
“If they were in one county, it would result in a federal quarantine,” said Lyle, explaining that at the federal level, if any part of the county is defined as being under quarantine, the quarantine includes the entire county. The current Sonoma quarantine is therefore a federal and state quarantine, he said.
Stefan Parnay, district manager of the Sonoma Agricultural Commission, said the proposed new quarantine is not yet imposed, and the commission is still in the process of notifying a number of vineyards in the vicinity. The proposed quarantine “is an interior quarantine,” he emphasized, “under the state.”  The boundary will be a minimum of 1-1/2 miles around the find site and the exact boundaries will depend on the kind of geographical features there may be around the area – roads, streams or other natural boundaries.
As for the area already under quarantine, Parnay said, “If we have no more finds in the original area, that quarantine will be lifted, according to the CDFA.”