Fw: APHIS Plant Trade Restrictions (fwd)

     I found the following on the Daylily e-mail Robin.  Do any of you know
anything about this.  If this really happens, the nursery trade will be put
out of business.

Mark A. Cook		Dunnellon, Florida.
 
> Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 12:28:39 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: APHIS Plant Trade Restrictions
> 
> 
> APHIS Pushes Through Restrictions on Interstate Sale of Garden Plants
> 
> from "North American Flower Gardener" April 1998
> 
> Have you ever wondered why many plants in garden catalogs bear a
> restriction, "Cannot Ship to California, Oregon, or Washington?" The
> reason is invasive weeds and insect pests, especially soilborne pests
such
> as Japanese Beetle and Lily Beetle, which have not yet crossed the
barrier
> of the Rocky Mountains.  Some plants, such as Barberry, can act as
> intermediate hosts to fungi that cause thousands of dollars in crop
losses
> in wheat-growing areas.  Anyone who has seen the damage these and other
> introduced pests can cause will appreciate the efforts of the U.S.
> Department of Agriculture to keep their range from expanding, even if it
> means looking elsewhere for the prized plant.
> 
> But gardeners, and especially nurserymen, are not lilely to appreciate
the
> latest development in the battle against noxious weeds and insect pests.
> The current restrictions have not been adequate; each year fruit growers
> in subtropical areas scramble contain outbreaks of Mediterranean fruit
> fly, Asian gypsy moths are discovered on ships entering the Pacific
> Northwest, and random inspections of plant material have revealed weevil
> grubs in the roots of nursery stock.  APHIS (Animal and Plant Health
> Inspection Service), the branch of the USDA responsible for inspection of
> plant and animal material crossing national and state borders, has been
> forced to reconsider its approach and clamp down.  As of this Fall, sale
> of plants over state borders in the U.S. will be prohibited.  The
> restriction will not affect the sale of seeds or bulbs, but only on
> growing or dormant plants which are much more difficult to inspect
> reliably.
> 
> The predicted immediate response from commercial mail-order nurseries has
> been outrage and disbelief.  Dan Hinckley of Herronswood Nursery, one of
> the foremost sources of unusual garden plants in the U.S., responded in
an
> interview, "This is unbelievable, and beyond absurd.  It will mean the
end
> of my livelihood; it's been done with no thought for the consequences to
> businesses like mine.  What's even more bizarre about it is that I can
> still bring in plants from Korea, England, anywhere in the world, as long
> as the soil is washed from the roots and the plants are inspected, but no
> such provision has even been considered for trade within the country.  I
> think you can count on a class-action lawsuit here."  Terrance Kennedy,
of
> APHIS, responded, "The amount of material coming in legally over our
> national borders is negligible compared to the sheer volume of trade in
> plants within the country - to properly inspect it all we'd have to
triple
> our force.  The money's not there. And even if it was, would you want to
> spend all day looking for grubs in hunks of dirt?  I know I don't."
> 
> One would think that only mail-order nurseries would be hard hit, but
> there are problems for others as well, especially in the New England
> states.  Chester Ruthleigh, owner of Verdant Vale nursery in Westlin,
> Rhode Island, is worried about the effects of the restrictions on his
> business, which relies heavily on customers from surrounding states.  "I
> can't see any benefit." he states, "I'm supposed to check driver's
> licenses and not sell to anyone from outside Rhode Island?  Is a Japanese
> beetle going to fly to the border 3 miles away and say 'oh, I better make
> sure I got a passport?' What possible benefit can this have?"
> 
> Counters APHIS's Kennedy, "Look at the alternatives -- rust-ridden
> wheatfields, medfly decimations of orange crops.  A day without orange
> juice is, after all, a day without sunshine, which is why not much orange
> juice is sold in Seattle.  Don't they have enough rhododendrons there
> already?  What good's a new shasta daisy going to do you when orange
juice
> costs 5 dollars a pint and your bread's so full of fungal spores it looks
> like a brillo pad?
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