Contact:                      David W. Miller (916) 651-1897

 

Pest Has Now Been Discovered in Downtown Napa

 

Sacramento – SB 556, a new bill by State Senator Patricia Wiggins (D – Santa Rosa) to address the potential threat posed by the Light Brown Apple Moth, cleared its first legislative hurdle today when it was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee.

 

Shortly after the hearing the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that a light brown apple moth had been detected in downtown Napa.

 

Because of the insect’s rapid spread, Wiggins introduced her bill as “urgency legislation,” meaning that it will go into effect as soon as it has been approved by the full Legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

The moth, originally from Australia, has since become established in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii and the British Isles. The U.S.D.A. confirmed the insect’s presence in California this past March, leading the state Department of Food & Agriculture to announce April 20 that it was establishing quarantines in portions of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties (with the expectation that Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties would soon be included as well).

 

On May 2, federal agriculture department officials implemented a federal order restricting the interstate movement of various agricultural products originating from the same counties listed above (and Hawaii, too).

The Wiggins bill, SB 556, would create the Light Brown Apple Moth Advisory Task Force to advise the Secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture on the potential environmental and economic impacts should the moth continue to spread throughout California.

“The Light Brown Apple Moth has the potential to cause significant economic losses due to increased production costs and the possible loss of international and domestic markets,” the Senator noted in her testimony before the committee this morning.

Appointments to the task force would be made by the department secretary (A.G. Kawamura) with task force members required to issue a report back to the secretary no later than September 1, 2007.

 

The presence of the moth has been confirmed in over 200 kinds of plants and trees, including pear, citrus, almond, avocado, walnut and coast redwood, pine, along with grapes, strawberries, corn, tomatoes and roses.

 

Damage to fruit occurs via surface feeding by the larvae. Larvae will occasionally enter the fruit to feed. Pupation takes place within the larval nests. The pest kills, stunts or deforms young seedlings, spoils the appearance of ornamental plants and injures deciduous fruit-tree crops, citrus and grapes.

 

 

Wiggins represents California’s large 2^nd Senate District, which stretches from Humboldt County to Solano County (and also includes Lake, Mendocino, Napa & Sonoma Counties).

 

She told members of the committee, which is chaired by Senator Abel Maldonado (R – Santa Maria), that she sees SB 556 as a “work in progress. As we find out more about the spread of this pest, the department and the Legislature will be better able to assess what resources and programs California may need to protect our precious and vulnerable agricultural products from potential harm.

 

“I hope to keep SB 556 moving as a vehicle to provide the necessary swift action to avoid any negative impact on the environmental and economic health of California Agriculture,” she added.