APHIS Adds Portions of Charleston and Dorchester Counties, South Carolina to the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) Quarantine Area

FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION
DA-2021-07
May 21, 2021

 

Subject:            APHIS Adds Portions of Charleston and Dorchester Counties, South Carolina to the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) Quarantine Area

 To:                   State and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the South Carolina Clemson University Department of Plant Industry, is adding 17.8 square miles of Charleston and Dorchester Counties, South Carolina, to the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) 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, in Charleston and Dorchester Counties. 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.

The attached Federal Order describes the quarantine area and includes the associated reference to 7 Code of Federal Regulations 301.51 et seq. that lists the provisions for the movement of ALB-regulated articles. This action is necessary to prevent the human-assisted spread of ALB.

ALB is a destructive wood-boring pest that threatens 12 species of hardwood trees in North America. ALB was first discovered in the United States in New York in August 1996. ALB was later detected in areas of Illinois (1998), New Jersey (2002, 2004), Massachusetts (2008, 2010), Ohio (2011), and South Carolina (2020). After the completion of control and regulatory activities and following confirmation surveys, APHIS declared ALB eradicated from Illinois (2008); Hudson County, New Jersey (2008); Islip, New York (2011); Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey (2013); Manhattan and Staten Island, New York (2013); Suffolk and Norfolk Counties, Massachusetts (2014); Batavia, Monroe, and Stonelick Townships, Ohio (2018); and Brooklyn and Queens, New York (2019). Program activities continue in Worcester County, Massachusetts; Nassau and Suffolk Counties in New York; Clermont County in Ohio; and Charleston and Dorchester Counties in South Carolina.

More information on ALB is available at the following website:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/asian-longhorned-beetle

For additional information regarding APHIS’ ALB Program, please contact ALB National Policy Manager, Kathryn Bronsky, at 301-851-2147.

 

/s/

Dr. Osama El-Lissy
Deputy Administrator
Plant Protection and Quarantine

 

Attachment: Federal Order