Coast Area Quarantine Group

Coast Area Quarantine Group Minutes from February 2, 2005

Ronnie Eaton Alameda Patty Murray Monterey Ken Peek Alameda Ken Corbishley Monterey Stephanie Theodore CDFA Joseph Deviney Contra Costa Tomas Pastalka CDFA John R Nelson USDA-SITC Joel King Napa Marilyn Perry Santa Cruz Leslie Buerer San Mateo Mary Lou Nicoletti Santa Cruz Mert Price Santa Clara Michael Telson USDA-APHIS Linda Penford Solano Bob Clement USDA-APHIS Eric Wylde Santa Clara Vince Arellano CDFA Amadou Ba CDFA Sandy Jordan USDA Sean Veling CDFA Davin Potts USDA Paul Turano Sonoma Baldo Villegas CDFA Cree Morgan Sonoma Craig Graffin Napa Amanda Stephens Marin

Ronnie Eaton, Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m.

1. It was M/S/P to accept the minutes from November 17, 2004 with two corrections.

 Update on the status of Action Item 03-02 The subject of this item was the use of lot numbers or dates to identify products moving into California from treatment facilities as a condition of entry. Ronnie had spoken with Ed Williams and he reported that Helene Wright, USDA, felt that this may create barriers for interstate trade and would require action at the federal level to implement. Ronnie will continue to follow up with Dennis Bray, current CACASA liaison to our group, on this item and obtain additional input from Dorthea Zadig.

 Review of mission statement – Eaton. Our mission statement addresses “identifying training needs and providing and provide a forum for group training”. A discussion followed about training needs of counties and how the group can coordinate multi-county training sessions. Ronnie remembered Amanda identifying a need of ACP, investigative, advocacy and hearing training. Mert reported that some of this training was going on with PUE but was targeted for individuals who already possessed experience.

2. Sudden Oak Death – Arellano  Monrovia Trace Forwards – Vince clarified that retail non-shipping nurseries in the infested counties need not be inspected, sampled and held. This is parallel with last years advisory 07-2004.  A new issue is that, non-host, reforestation suppliers will need to get fee exempt nursery license and will need to be put on the database for shipping non-hosts.  The main change on Y-2 (authorization for certification, infested county) included the fact that the federal shield be used for soil associated with non-hosts. As for the tracking log, only track shipments of plants that are on one of the plant lists (associated and hosts). Also, with the Federal shield, if the nursery wants it printed on their invoices, they do not need to have the shape of shield, but can use the exact wording in a square. All the compliance agreement numbers need to be of the format to fit on the shield. Some counties will need to change current Compliance agreement numbers. Work with Stephanie Theodore in making sure that the Compliance Agreement number matches their nursery license number.  The certification required for intrastate shipments – Eaton requested verification that only a CQC was needed for intrastate shipments (no federal shield) and interstate shipments requiring only the federal shield. Vince said that he would confirm this.  Vince made a point of saying that a compliance agreement was not needed for nurseries that only shipped non- host material intrastate. He also said that it might make life easier for some, and was permitted, to obtain a compliance agreement if they provide nursery stock to other nurseries that ship interstate.  Discussion took place on the need for CDFA to clarify, in their memos and advisories, as to if the directive involves regulated counties and/or quarantined counties. It was also brought up that during the SOD conference calls this same issue, determining which counties were involved, regulated vs. quarantined, was difficult to determine.  Vince added that the laboratory has about a two to four week wait and it is advised to use the reservation method on website. 3. Local, Coast Area, Sudden Oak Death Activities – Pastalka  Thomas reported that P. ramorum A-1 strain was found in Washington on Camellias  A question remains on the origin of this A-1 find and it appears to be a possible hybrid strain.  He also offered that Agricultural officials from other states have been visiting California to see how we are handling the different aspects of our SOD programs and how our industries are complying.  He also reported that the SOD affected areas are changing. For example, in Marin, there are some new areas that are being found infested and some original areas showing signs that the infestation is decreasing.  More info on the San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, SOD finds. These were planted oaks and did have Bay Laurel present. This is the only Oak find in California that was not in the wild. 4. SITC Update – Nelson  An update on the Artificial Christmas trees from China was given. Part of the problem with these shipments was that they were manifested as many different items. For this reason, many that came in were not inspected. Working with Customs to target these types of shipments. What may come out of this is a rule that will prohibit the importation of Christmas trees, baskets, etc. with natural components and treatment will not be an option.  SITC staff is now being trained on Incident Command / Standardized Emergency Management System approach for implementation in these quarantine type recalls.  SITC and Santa Clara has started a project looking for a new ways to prevent fruit fly infestations. The ideas include increasing outreach in areas where these fruit flies repeatedly are detected and using address type data from SFO and San Jose Airport confiscations to help to determine if personal baggage is a main source of introductions. The “California Action Plan” that involves CDFA and SITC, parallels these efforts and targets Southeast Asian shipments, ethic holidays and seasonal fruits.  SITC is going to become involved with Cooperative Agreement Pest Survey (CAPS). 5. Phytosanitary Issues – Telson  Mike discussed that the refresher training opportunities will be given soon and will be a course developed by USDA Professional Development Center and will add a test to be completed by the participants.  Regarding phytosanitary certificates, Mike reviewed i. Common errors 1. No cursive writing. All hand written certificates must be Block style, all capitals. 2. No abbreviations in the following blocks a. Place of issue b. Treatment c. Exporter address d. Consignee’s address e. Date issued 3. Distinguishing Marks: Do not use “as addressed” etc. If an address label is used, then that information must be completely used in this box. ii. Copies of Import permits need to be attached to Record copies iii. Record Copies (yellow sheets) need to be mailed to your export certification specialist monthly with a revised tally sheet. You can email this information if you prefer. If no certificates were issued, then must send in a “nil” tally sheet. 6. GWSS Update – Amadu Ba CDFA  Please find attached the Pierce’s Disease Control Program Update 7. Fruit Fly Outbreak – Sandy Jordan USDA  Sandy gave a power point presentation on the recent Medfly eradication project in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico 8. Yellow Star Biocontrols – Villegas  Baldo gave two presentations. One on the Rust release trials for the control of Yellow star thistle and one on other bio-control programs in progress. 9. DHL, FedEx Ground etc.– Turano  Paul shared recent experience with DHL that illuminated the serious need for daily inspections at their facilities and for a MOU between DHL and CDFA.  Vince Arellano reported that currently CDFA was reviewing the existing MOU’s and contacting other small package carriers to determine where problems exist. He requested input from the commissioners on this to be directed to him. Ronnie requested there be a Pest Exclusion Advisory on this topic.  Nelson added that SITC inspected DHL in South San Francisco and that most of the parcels were business shipments, not personal. He also mentioned that the shipments of most concerned were those through the US mail. He also offered that shipments through the East coast and Anchorage where either not inspected or only inspected at a cursory level. 10. Hydrilla – Eaton  Pictures were presented of the Fresh Water Shrimp and Hydrilla pieces. These shrimp are used for food for fish. Ronnie mentioned that there already exists a regulation that prohibits the transportation of plant material in the shipment of fish and requires certification. This certification should be present in future shipments of this type from Florida. 11. Next meeting scheduled for May 4, 2005 at the conference room at Meadowview laboratory in Sacramento at 10:00. Monterey to bring refreshments.