The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has made the historic announcement that the last remaining infected counties in California are now free of the European grapevine moth (EGVM), also known as Lobesia botrana.

APHIS has determined the pest has been eradicated from California and is lifting Federal quarantine on 446 square miles of Napa and Sonoma Counties that have been under regulation since June 2010.

APHIS and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) have conducted extensive survey, control, and regulatory efforts for over three years and found no EGVM in this last quarantined area.

This means the United States is free from this pest and unrestricted movement of grapes and other host commodities from these areas can resume.

The action was effective as of yesterday.

"This destructive invasive pest put grape and stone fruit crops worth more than $5.7 billion at risk and threatened to close valuable export markets for U.S. grapes around the world," said APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea.

"The EGVM eradication program employed collaborative strategies that can be used as a model to address future pest incursions; industry, state and local officials, growers, university scientists and extension services all invested in finding and implementing the right tools to safeguard California grapes."

In October 2009, APHIS confirmed the first detection of EGVM in the United States in major grape production areas of Northern California.

In 2010, APHIS took regulatory actions and established quarantine boundaries, ultimately detecting nearly 101,000 moths that year. APHIS partnered with CDFA and affected counties to work closely with industry, the University of California Cooperative Extension Service, the EGVM Technical Working Group, and other stakeholders to eradicate this pest within California.

A total of 11 California counties have been quarantined for EGVM since it was detected. On March 3, 2011, APHIS declared EGVM eradication from Lake County.

In 2012, APHIS declared EGVM eradicated from Fresno, Mendocino, Merced, San Joaquin, Solano, Nevada, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties.

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