FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION

DA-2015-22

April 27, 2015

Subject: Updated List of Regulated Articles for Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora 

glabripennis)

To: State and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is removing 

hackberry, Celtis spp., from the list of genera regulated for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). This 

action responds to research conducted by the USDA Center for Plant Health Science and 

Technology indicating that ALB does not complete its life cycle in hackberry trees. Therefore,

they no longer need to be inspected or considered for treatment. The attached Federal Order 

includes the associated reference to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that lists the 

provisions for the movement of ALB-host material.

ALB is a destructive wood-boring pest of maple and other hardwoods that is believed to have 

been introduced into the United States from wood pallets and other wood packing material 

accompanying cargo shipments from Asia. ALB was first discovered on several hardwood trees 

in the United States in Brooklyn, New York, in 1996. ALB was later detected in Chicago, 

Illinois, in 1998, and the Secretary of Agriculture declared an emergency to combat the 

infestation with regulatory and control actions. ALB was first found in New Jersey in 2002, in 

Massachusetts in 2008, and in Ohio in 2011.

In 2008, after the completion of control and regulatory activities, and following confirmation 

surveys, ALB was declared eradicated in Chicago, Illinois and Hudson County, New Jersey. In 

2011, ALB was declared eradicated from Islip, New York, followed by Union and Middlesex 

Counties, New Jersey, and Manhattan and Staten Island, New York in 2013. ALB was declared 

eradicated from Boston, Massachusetts in 2014.

For additional information, you may call ALB National Policy Manager Robyn Rose at 301-851-

2283.

/s/

Osama El-Lissy

Deputy Administrator

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Attachment: Federal Order
FEDERAL ORDER

Updated List of Regulated Articles for Asian Longhorned Beetle

(Anoplophora glabripennis)

DA-2015-22

April 27, 2015

Effective immediately, this Federal Order removes hackberry (Celtis spp.) from the list of 

regulated genera found at 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 301.51-2(a) for Asian 

longhorned beetle (ALB). This action responds to research conducted by USDA Center for Plant 

Health Science and Technology indicating that ALB does not complete its life cycle in hackberry 

trees. Therefore, hackberry trees no longer need to be inspected or considered for treatment.

This Federal Order is issued pursuant to the regulatory authority provided by the Plant Protection 

Act of June 20, 2000, as amended, Section 412(a), 7 U.S.C. 7712(a). The Act authorizes the 

Secretary of Agriculture to prohibit or restrict the movement in interstate commerce of any plant, 

plant part, or article, or means of conveyance, if the Secretary determines the prohibition or 

restriction is necessary to prevent the dissemination of a plant pest within the United States. This 

Federal Order is also issued pursuant to the regulations promulgated under the Plant Protection 

Act found at 7 CFR 301.51.

Section 301.51-2 of the CFR designates certain items as regulated articles. Regulated articles 

may not be moved interstate from quarantined areas except in accordance with the conditions 

specified in §§ 301.51-4 through 301.51-9 of the regulations. Regulated articles listed in § 

301.51-2(a) for ALB include firewood (all hardwood species), and green lumber and other 

material living, dead, cut, or fallen, inclusive of nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches, and 

debris of half an inch or more in diameter of specific genera. With the removal of hackberry, the 

regulated genera are:

• ash (Fraxinus),

• birch (Betula),

• elm (Ulmus).

• golden rain tree (Koelreuteria),

• horse chestnut (Aesculus),

• katsura (Cercidiphyllum),

• maple (Acer),

• mimosa (Albizia),

• mountain ash (Sorbus)

• poplar (Populus),

• sycamore (Platanus), and

• willow (Salix).
This list of genera is based on scientific literature provided by Chinese government officials, 

scientists, and individual researchers and from survey information collected in the United States 

since the discovery of the pest here in 1996.

APHIS has confirmed ALB infestations in various areas of the United States for which the 

Administrator has determined that quarantines are necessary to prevent the human assisted 

spread of ALB. The areas quarantined to contain the spread of ALB are designated in the federal 

regulations located at 7 CFR 301.51-3 and in the Federal Orders which are located at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/planthealth/alb-quarantine

For more information on the federal ALB regulatory program, you may call ALB National 

Policy Manager Robyn Rose at 301-851-2283.