[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 68 (Friday, April 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16356-16357]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-8101]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2009-0011]


Potato Cyst Nematode; Update of Quarantined Areas

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of changes to quarantined area.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have made changes to the 
area in the State of Idaho that is quarantined to prevent the spread of 
potato cyst nematode. The description of the quarantined area was 
updated on December 9, 2008, when 20 fields were removed from the 
quarantined area, and on January 14, 2009, when 17 additional fields 
were removed from the quarantined area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Eileen Y. Smith, National Program 
Manager, Emergency and Domestic Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road 
Unit 150, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-5235.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The potato cyst nematode (PCN, Globodera pallida) is a major pest 
of potato crops in cool-temperature areas. Other solanaceous hosts 
include tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, tomatillos, and some weeds. The 
PCN is thought to have originated in Peru and is now widely distributed 
in many potato-growing regions of the world. PCN infestations may be 
expressed as patches of poor growth. Affected potato plants may exhibit 
yellowing, wilting, or death of foliage. Even with only minor symptoms 
on the foliage, potato tuber size can be affected. Unmanaged 
infestations can cause potato yield loss ranging from 20 to 70 percent. 
The spread of this pest in the United States could result in a loss of 
domestic or foreign markets for U.S. potatoes and other commodities.
    The PCN quarantine regulations (Sec. Sec.  301.86 through 301.86-9, 
referred to below as the regulations) set out procedures for 
determining the areas quarantined for PCN and impose restrictions on 
the interstate movement of regulated articles from quarantined areas.
    Section 301.86-3 of the regulations sets out the procedures for 
determining the areas quarantined for PCN. Paragraph (a) of Sec.  
301.86-3 states that, in accordance with the criteria listed in Sec.  
301.86-3(c), the Administrator will designate as a quarantined area 
each field that has been found to be infested with PCN, each field that 
has been found to be associated with an infested field, and any area 
that the Administrator considers necessary to quarantine because of its 
inseparability for quarantine enforcement purposes from infested or 
associated fields.
    Paragraph (c) provides that the Administrator will designate a 
field as an infested field when PCN is found in the field. Paragraph 
(c) also provides that the Administrator will designate a field as an 
associated field when PCN host crops, as listed in Sec.  301.86-2(b), 
have been grown in the field in the last 10 years and the field shares 
a border with an infested field; the field came into contact with a 
regulated article

[[Page 16357]]

listed in Sec.  301.86-2 from an infested field within the last 10 
years; or, within the last 10 years, the field shared ownership, 
tenancy, seed, drainage or runoff, farm machinery, or other elements of 
shared cultural practices with an infested field that could allow 
spread of the PCN, as determined by the Administrator.
    Paragraph (b) describes the conditions for the designation of an 
area less than an entire State as a quarantined area. Less than an 
entire State will be designated as a quarantined area only if the 
Administrator determines that:
    <bullet> The State has adopted and is enforcing restrictions on the 
intrastate movement of the regulated articles that are equivalent to 
those imposed by the regulations on the interstate movement of 
regulated articles; and
    <bullet> The designation of less than the entire State as a 
quarantined area will prevent the interstate spread of PCN.
    We have determined that it is not necessary to designate the entire 
State of Idaho as a quarantined area. Idaho has adopted and is 
enforcing restrictions on the intrastate movement of regulated articles 
from that area that are equivalent to those we are imposing on the 
interstate movement of regulated articles.
    Paragraph (d) provides for the removal of fields from quarantine. 
An infested field will be removed from quarantine when a 3-year 
biosurvey protocol approved by APHIS has been completed and the field 
has been found to be free of PCN. An associated field will be removed 
from quarantine when the field has been found to be free of PCN 
according to a survey protocol approved by the Administrator as 
sufficient to support removal from quarantine. Any area other than 
infested or associated fields which has been quarantined by the 
Administrator because of its inseparability for quarantine enforcement 
purposes from infested or associated fields will be removed from 
quarantine when the relevant infested or associated fields are removed 
from quarantine.
    Paragraph (a) of Sec.  301.86-3 further provides that the 
Administrator will publish the description of the quarantined area on 
the Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Web site, http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/potato/pcn.shtml. 
The description of the quarantined area will include the date the 
description was last updated and a description of the changes that have 
been made to the quarantined area. The description of the quarantined 
area may also be obtained by request from any local office of PPQ; 
local offices are listed in telephone directories. Finally, paragraph 
(a) establishes that, after a change is made to the quarantined area, 
we will publish a notice in the Federal Register informing the public 
that the change has occurred and describing the change to the 
quarantined area.
    We are publishing this notice to inform the public of changes to 
the PCN quarantined area in accordance with Sec.  301.86-3(a). On 
December 9, 2008, we updated the quarantined area to remove 20 fields 
(1,183 acres in total) from the quarantined area. On January 14, 2009, 
we updated the quarantined area to remove an additional 17 fields 
(2,146 acres in total) from the quarantined area. These actions removed 
a total of 3,329 acres from quarantine.
    The fields were removed from quarantine as associated fields after 
being found to be free of PCN according to a survey protocol approved 
by the Administrator as sufficient to support removal from quarantine, 
under paragraph (d)(2) of Sec.  301.86-3. The fields removed from 
quarantine were in Bingham, Bonneville, and Jefferson Counties.
    The current map of the quarantined area can be viewed on the PPQ 
Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/potato/pcn.shtml.

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 7701-7772 and 7781-7786; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, 
and 371.3.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 6th day of April 2009.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
 [FR Doc. E9-8101 Filed 4-9-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P