FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION
DA-2021-19
Aug. 23, 2021 To: State and Territory Agricultural Regulatory OfficialsEffective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is removing a portion of Harris County within the Braeswood area of Houston, Texas, from citrus canker regulations. The successful partnership between APHIS and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has resulted in a citrus canker-free status in this area since 2016.On May 20, 2016, APHIS confirmed the positive identification of citrus canker in two adjacent sour orange trees in a city park in the Braeswood area of Houston, in Harris County, Texas. TDA removed and destroyed both positive citrus canker trees. TDA established an intrastate quarantine area for citrus canker that paralleled the federal citrus canker regulatory requirements specified in 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 301.75. APHIS completed a comprehensive delimiting survey around the area and found no additional citrus trees positive for citrus canker within the survey area. In 2020, TDA conducted another comprehensive survey within the Braeswood quarantine area, and did not find any infested citrus trees. After the destruction of the two infested trees by TDA in 2016, and with no new detections in two comprehensive surveys conducted by TDA and APHIS, there is no evidence of a citrus canker infestation in the Braeswood area. Accordingly, as stated in 7 CFR § 301.75-4 (c), this area meets the requirements for the removal of the citrus canker quarantine. The removal of this quarantine area is reflected on the following designated website, which also contains a description of all the current federal citrus canker quarantine areas:http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/citrus-canker For additional information about the Citrus Health Response Program, please contact Director of Specialty Crops and Cotton Pests, Shailaja Rabindran, at 301-851-2167. /s/Dr. Osama El-Lissy
Deputy Administrator
Plant Protection and Quarantine
Attachment:
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
