State Plans O.C. Quarantine for Fire Ants

State officials said Tuesday they plan to quarantine Orange County in hopes of curbing the spread of red fire ants--a step they said is needed because the infestation has proven worse than first thought.

It would mark the first time California has declared a quarantine to fight the swarming, stinging insects, which have long infested 11 Southeastern states but came to the public’s attention only last fall on the West Coast.

The quarantine, which would forbid movement of uninspected soil and nursery plants across the county line, would most heavily affect nurseries, which produce the county’s biggest export crop. Inspections will likely be required at 600 businesses, including supermarkets, that sell plants.

The pending quarantine rules, which could go into effect within nine days and last five years or more, also would require operators of construction equipment to ensure that soil containing ants is not taken out of the county.

For the average homeowner, the impact could be minimal, with no checkpoints at the county line or quarantine officers knocking on doors, state officials said.

While residents will be cautioned not to take outdoor potted plants out of Orange County, the fire-ant quarantine probably will be more low-key than rules to curb the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly, which restricted the movement of home-grown fruits and vegetables.

“The common person will not even know this exists, most likely,” said state agriculture spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. “They’re less likely to move a potted plant than an apple from their tree, or an orange.”

Imposition of a quarantine is the most dramatic illustration yet that the county is at the center of California’s escalating fire-ant problem--although some ants have been found in parts of Riverside and Los Angeles counties, most recently in Cerritos, near the Orange County line. The state may also impose quarantines in those areas, although no decisions have been made, officials said.

Among restrictions proposed for the Orange County quarantine, as described Tuesday by state and county officials:

* Nurseries would be prohibited from moving plants within or outside of the county unless they are treated and certified by inspectors.

* Baled hay and straw left on the ground could not be moved within or outside Orange County without approval from state or county inspectors.

* Moving soil from one site to another would also be restricted, and contractors would be required to clean loose soil from earthmoving equipment before moving it from one site to another.

The quarantine is needed to ensure the fire ants do not spread elsewhere in California or other western states, state officials said. The ants eat plants and can damage electrical equipment, and their painful bites can be fatal for the small portion of the population allergic to their sting.

Word of the quarantine came Tuesday as the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to take its first step in the battle against the insect by directing maintenance workers to treat fire-ant mounds on county property--including parks--with pesticide.

The state is working on a more widespread plan in hopes of ridding itself of the ant altogether. One tactic under study is aerial application of the pesticide, which works like a form of birth control and curbs ant reproduction.

State officials say that the quarantine simply formalizes restrictions that have been in effect for weeks.

Eighty of an estimated 300 nurseries in Orange County have already been inspected, and several where fire ants were found have been placed under a “hold order” that prohibits them from moving plant material, soil, mulch or other items from their premises unless it has been sprayed and inspected.

The state Tuesday released a list of five Orange County nurseries where fire ants have been found: Bordier’s in Irvine, Nitao Nursery in Orange, T-Y and Sakaida nurseries in Trabuco Canyon and Armstrong Garden Centers’ new wholesale growing ground in San Juan Capistrano.

Jim Carpenter, vice president of Armstrong’s production division, said the ants came in a single plant brought in from another grower.

To comply with state fire-ant regulations, he said, workers at the San Juan Capistrano nursery are spraying each outgoing shipment with an approved insecticide. State inspectors “come here every day,” Carpenter said.

Within a few days, he said, the nursery will prepare a compliance plan for state approval that sets up a regular schedule for applying insecticides to the growing beds and for placing ant bait throughout the entire 30-acre property.

Nurseries and other businesses that have been inspected and found to be ant-free are not affected by the quarantine, said Barbara J. Haas of the state Department of Agriculture.

The state is working closely with the nursery industry to assure all goes smoothly with the impending rules, said Bob Wynn, the Agriculture Department’s director of plant health and pest prevention services. In fact, the rules should help nurseries by providing guidelines so that their plant products can earn a clean bill of health, Wynn said.

“This is to maintain their livelihood down there,” he said.

The impact on the county’s building industry was unclear Tuesday. The current building boom is causing considerable earthmoving with heavy equipment, particularly in South County. But the local Building Industry Assn. chief executive officer, Christine Diemer, says her group is taking a wait-and-see attitude about the quarantine.

“We’re not in the business of moving dirt out of Orange County,” Diemer said. “So far, I’m unaware of any direct impact on our housing industry, but you never know.”

If the state does not quarantine Orange County, it could face a federally imposed fire-ant quarantine for all of California, state and federal officials said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture could take that step if it determined the county should be quarantined and the state did not comply, they said.

As it is, the federal government may soon impose an Orange County quarantine similar to the state action, said Helene Wright, state plant health director for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Word of the Orange County quarantine came Tuesday in a letter to county Agricultural Commissioner Rick Le Feuvre from a state agriculture official.

Le Feuvre said that state mandated quarantines could be in effect until the fire ants are eradicated. He told county supervisors that it may last a minimum of five years. Some ant experts suspect the ants have already been in Orange County five years or longer and have flourished in such a wide area that they simply cannot be completely eradicated.

Meanwhile, county supervisors Tuesday authorized county maintenance workers to begin putting ant bait on county-owned property, including the 20 regional parks, and cities that contract with the county for maintenance.

The bait, an agent known as fenoxycarb, curbs the ants’ ability to reproduce. Once placed on the ant-mound, worker ants take the bait below ground into the nest and eventually to the queen ant. Once consumed, the queen becomes sterile and the colony is neutralized in about four to eight weeks.

*

Times staff writer John O’Dell contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ants Get New Attention

State agriculture officials are planning a quarantine in Orange County, where an infestation of fire ants was first reported last fall. Residents may report fire ants or ant mounds by calling (800) 491-1899. For more information, visit the Department of Food & Agriculture’s Web site at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov

Source: California Department of Food & Agriculture