USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) added Corylopsis spicata and Physocarpus opulifolius to the list of regulated hosts of Phytophthora ramorum, the fungus that causes sudden oak death. The two infected hosts were found in Canada, not in the United States. No new hosts were reported in the United States in 2007.
In other P. ramorum news, Oregon experienced 60 new infested sites in 2007. Six of the sites were outside the quarantine area, which prompted the state to expand Curry County’s quarantine to 162 square miles as of Jan. 1, 2008. For the first time, nurseries and a lumber mill are within the quarantine area.
For more: Jonathan M. Jones, APHIS, (301) 734-5038; www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/pram. Oregon Department of Agriculture, (503) 986-4640; www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/NURSERY/profile_sod.shtml.
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April 2008