Washington, D.C. — The American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) reports that there are new federal regulations aimed at preventing the spread of Phytopthera ramorum from California to other regions of the country. "This order represents a significant effort by APHIS and state partners to craft an approach that may lead to uniform rules on the interstate movement of California plant material at this critical time," says Robert J. Dolibois, CAE, executive vice president of ANLA.

P. ramorum causes disease in certain trees and shrubs. ANLA has deciuded to call this disease "Ramorum canker and blight" rather than the somewhat inaccurate and alarming term, "sudden oak death."

On April 22, after negotiations with state and federal agricultural officials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (USDA/APHIS) issued an "Amended Order Restricting Movement of Nursery Stock from California Nurseries," (six pages, PDF, 156k). This amended order replaces a previous order dated April 9.

The ANLA has posted a one-page analysis of the order on it's home page under the "What's New" heading.

In brief, the order restricts the movement of certain plants that are hosts or associated hosts of P. ramorum from all California nurseries — even nurseries outside the quarantined zones. It also ensures that all California nurseries shipping such plants must undergo testing for the pathogen.

The order does not affect plants already at retail, or in transit, that were certified and have moved or are moving under the previous order.

"ANLA strongly urges all states to adhere to this new order, which is the product of extensive negotiation and consensus building among federal and state partners," says ANLA in its analysis. "ANLA is working closely with USDA and state officials to urge rapid implementation and to minimize delays."