Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/56260
Apple maggot quarantine proposed pest be established in the western part of Chelan County. Apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) is a pest of con- W cern in some foreign markets, including Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Cuba, as well as in some U.S. counties. The pest is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It was first detected in Clark County, Washing- ton, in 1980 and soon spread throughout the western part of the state. Apple maggot flies are generally found in unsprayed back-yard or roadside fruit and spread slowly, but they can be transported around the state in infested apples from back-yard trees, according to Mike Klaus, entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture establishes quaran- tines in areas where the pest is established to prevent it from infesting commercial orchards. Backyard fruit can- not be transported out of quarantine areas and commer- cial fruit shippers in quarantined areas need permits to ship fruit elsewhere. All of western Washington is now quarantined, as well as Spokane County in eastern Washington and parts of Kittitas and Yakima counties in central Washington. Each year, the Washington State Department of Agri- culture conducts a survey of apple maggot, which helps the state develop strategies to manage the pest and pre- vent it from becoming established in new areas. The sur- vey also helps determine which areas of Washington officially qualify as "pest free," meaning that the pest is not established and that efforts are being taken to prevent its establishment. In the 2011 survey, 35 apple maggot flies were caught at 23 sites in Chelan County, which is not quarantined. Fifteen of the sites were in Leavenworth, six were along Campbell Road near the Blewett Pass Highway, and two were in Wenatchee. Pupae were reared from infested apples at two sites in Leavenworth. Finding multiple life stages is an indication that the pest has become established. The proposed quarantine area in Leavenworth would include all of the county west of approximately where Chumstick road intersects with Highway 2 and extend north to the border with Okanogan County and south to the Kittitas County border. The proposal will be submit- ted to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, which will hold a rulemaking hearing. Klaus said, if approved, the quarantine would likely go into effect sometime before August 1. The Apple Maggot Working Group is also proposing to remove a small portion of Kittitas County from the quar- antined area that covers most of the county except for the southeast corner, which is designated pest free. A small area around Burbank Creek between Interstate 82 and the Yakima River, which was added to the quarantined area in 2009, would become part of the county's pest-free area again. Klaus said after apple maggot was found in that area in 2008, the local pest board worked to eradicate the pest and no apple maggots have been trapped there for the past three years. Trapping will continue to make sure the pest is gone. www.goodfruit.com ashington State's Apple Maggot Working Group is recommending that a new quarantine area for the GOOD FRUIT GROWER MARCH 1, 2012 39