Press Releases

USDA DEREGULATES SECTIONS OF ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE QUARANTINE BOUNDARIES IN ILLINOIS

John Dodd	(301) 734-5175
Jerry Redding	(202) 720-6959

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2005—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced it is deregulating portions of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) quarantine in Illinois.

Through intensive inspections, it has been determined the ALB quarantines around Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, to include Bensenville, in DuPage County and Franklin Park, in Cook County, Park Ridge in Cook County, and portions of Chicago’s Ravenswood area in Cook County, including Kilbourn Park and Loyola, no longer display evidence of ALB infestation and will be removed from the quarantine region of Illinois. This action is consistent with ALB management protocol, as there have been no additional ALB finds in these areas for a minimum of two years.

This action reduces the ALB regulated areas in Illinois from approximately 35–square–miles to nine–square–miles, covering the area around Chicago’s Oz Park, where three infested trees were detected in 2003.

Trees in the former quarantine areas will continue to be inspected annually, as APHIS remains vigilant in its effort to prevent the spread of this destructive pest to noninfested areas of the United States. The deregulation of these quarantine areas permits the free movement of host materials, including firewood, lumber and nursery stock.

Restrictions will still apply to the quarantine area around Chicago’s Oz Park, which is bordered by Addison Street to the north, Damen Avenue to the west, Chicago Avenue to the south and Lake Michigan to the east.

The larvae of the ALB bores into healthy hardwood trees and feeds on living tree tissue and heartwood. Later, throughout the summer, adult beetles emerge from exit holes and briefly feed on the leaves and small twigs of host trees.

ALB infestations are responsible for the destruction of more than 11,000 trees in the New York, New Jersey and Illinois quarantined areas.

Since its initial discovery in New York in 1996, Illinois in 1998 and New Jersey in 2002, tree destruction had been the only method for controlling this beetle. APHIS and its cooperators undertake eradication by imposing quarantines, conducting intensified visual inspections around confirmed sites to delimit infestations, remove infested and high–risk exposed host trees and chemically treat host trees as part of an area–wide integrated pest management strategy. The goal is to eliminate this destructive insect from New York, New Jersey and Illinois before it can establish itself elsewhere.

The ALB Cooperative Eradication Program relies on the public’s support and help in eliminating this destructive pest from the United States. The public can assist by looking for and reporting any sighting of the ALB, which is about 1 to 1.5 inches long, has a shiny jet black body with distinctive white spots and long antennae that are banded with black and white. To report a sighting of ALB, please call toll free (800) 641-3934 or (312)742-3385.

APHIS, USDA’s Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service, Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Bureau of Forestry participate in the Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program. For more information, visit the APHIS Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov/alb.

This interim rule was effective April 21 and is scheduled for publication in the April 26 Federal Register. APHIS documents published in the Federal Register are available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

Consideration will be given to comments received on or before June 27. Send an original and three copies of postal or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. 05-011-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. If you wish to submit a comment using the Internet, go to EDOCKET at http://www.epa.gov/feddocket, click on "View Open APHIS Dockets," and locate agency Docket No. 05-011-1.

Comments are posted on the EDOCKET Web site and may also be viewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th St. and Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To facilitate entry into the comment reading room, please call (202) 690-2817.

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