WASHINGTON (AP) - The Agriculture Department said Friday it willcontinue to restrict shipments of Christmas trees and other pineproducts from parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states.
New rules to prevent the spread of a tree-munching beetle werepublished Friday in the Federal Register, the government's officialbulletin of administrative regulations.
The rules affirm emergency regulations issued Dec. 29 to add 19counties in six states, including Tyler County, W.Va., to thequarantined area. Other counties in those six states and three otherstates are covered under previous orders.The department said the biggest impact will be on three Christmastree farms in southwestern Pennsylvania's Blair and Greene counties.Those farms, which were not named, shipped all of their trees andtree products outside the quarantined area in 1997, the governmentsaid.Two tree nurseries, five commercial timber companies or sawmillsand 23 other tree-related businesses in the two counties also willbeaffected.The pine shoot beetle, an insect the size of a match head, cancause stunted and distorted growth in pine trees.A native of Europe, the beetle was discovered at a Christmas treefarm near Cleveland in 1992. Since then, the AgricultureDepartment's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has soughttorestrict its spread.Twenty-three other Pennsylvania counties already have been subjectto the restrictions, which require businesses that want to shipoutside the regulated areas to arrange for inspections and subjecttheir products to special fumigation or cold treatment.The inspections are provided free of charge, but businesses facetreatment and other costs and possible marketing delays.Only interstate shipments are covered.The ruling also extends to parts of Indiana, Michigan, New Yorkand Ohio. Other counties in those states and Illinois, Maryland andWisconsin were previously included in the quarantined area.
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