DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Plum Pox Virus Untended Stone Fruit Orchard Indemnity Program [34 Pa.B. 4928] The Department of Agriculture (Department) gives notice of the procedures and requirements under which it will continue to award grants to owners of untended stone fruit orchards when these orchards are: (1) subject to a quarantine order issued by the Department under authority of the Plant Pest Act (act) (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27); (2) destroyed by order of the Department as part of its ongoing Plum Pox Virus (PPV) containment and eradication effort; and (3) not otherwise eligible to be reimbursed for the removal, destruction and loss of these trees and the prevention of subsequent land erosion under existing reimbursement grant programs. This program will be known as the Plum Pox Virus Untended Stone Fruit Orchard Indemnity Program (program).
PPV afflicts trees and shrubs in the genus Prunus. These trees include apricot, plum, peach, nectarine, cherry and other stone fruit trees used in commercial fruit production, various ornamental and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs that are in popular use in residential backyard planting and landscaping and trees in untended orchards that are no longer being maintained for commercial fruit production or other commercial purposes.
In summary, the program complements four other programs under which the Department provides partial indemnification for losses sustained by stone fruit tree owners:
1. The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were originally published at 30 Pa.B. 4014 (August 5, 2000) and 30 Pa.B. 6608 (December 23, 2000) and recent amendments published at 34 Pa.B. 1258 (February 28, 2004).
2. The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were published at 30 Pa.B. 4737 (September 9, 2000) and recent amendments published at 34 Pa.B. 1256 (February 28, 2004).
3. The Plum Pox Virus Noncommercial Prunus Tree and Landscape Nursery Prunus Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were published at 31 Pa.B. 2936 (June 9, 2001).
4. The Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, the procedures and requirements of which were originally published at 34 Pa.B. 2470 (May 8, 2004).
The program fills a gap that is not addressed in the four programs listed. Rather than focusing on stone fruit trees used for commercial orchard purposes, commercial nursery purposes, landscaping purposes or landscape nursery purposes (as do the various programs described previously), the program focuses on untended stone fruit orchards. These are typically orchards that were planted or used for commercial stone fruit production but that are no longer used for any commercial purpose. These untended orchards are sometimes referred to in the stone fruit production industry as ''abandoned'' orchards. An untended orchard provides a reservoir for PPV and the aphids that carry it. In addition, untended stone fruit orchards are at higher risk of PPV infection since they are not actively managed. The program provides a framework within which the Department can compensate owners of untended orchards for the cost resulting from the destruction of the untended orchard by order of the Department.
Authority
There are two separate sources of authority and funding for the program. The first is section 207 of the General Appropriation Act of 2004, which appropriated the sum of $500,000 to the Department for fruit tree indemnity payments related to PPV and costs related to disease eradication and other prevention and control measures. The second is the First Supplemental General Appropriation Act of 2003 (No. 9A), which appropriated $1 million in nonlapsing funds to the Department for these same purposes.
Background
Under the authority and responsibility imparted it under the act, the Department has established PPV-related quarantines in parts of four counties. In Adams County, the Townships of Huntington and Latimore, the Borough of York Springs and portions of Butler, Menallen and Tyrone Townships are quarantined. In Cumberland County, the Borough of Mount Holly Springs and the Townships of South Middleton, Southampton and Dickinson are quarantined. In Franklin County, Quincy Township and the Borough of Mount Alto are quarantined. In York County, Conewago, Franklin, Monaghan and Washington Townships are quarantined. The areas covered by these quarantine orders--and any area designated in any subsequent PPV-related quarantine order issued by the Department--are referred to collectively as the ''PPV quarantine area.''
PPV is a serious plant pest that injures and damages stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, cherries, plums and apricots by drastically reducing the fruit yields from these stone fruit trees and by disfiguring the fruit to the point it is unmarketable. PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production and stone fruit nursery industries within this Commonwealth. PPV is transmitted from infected trees by aphids and by budding or grafting with PPV-infected plant material. There is no known control for PPV other than the destruction of infected trees.
Untended stone fruit orchards present a particularly serious problem to the Department's PPV containment and eradication effort. An untended orchard contains trees and shrubs that are susceptible to PPV and provides an excellent environment for the aphids that transmit the disease from tree to tree. Untended stone fruit orchards are not monitored by the owner for signs of plant disease, are not subject to applications of pesticides that reduce the chance of aphid-borne PPV transmission and are frequently overgrown with other plants that make the untended orchard difficult to access. All of these factors combine to make untended stone fruit orchards more likely to become infected with PPV, thus serving as a continuous virus reservoir.
It is the intention of the Department to issue (as funding is available) a series of quarantine orders covering untended stone fruit orchards in an increasingly widening circle having the current quarantine area as its center. An owner of an untended stone fruit orchard in this expanded quarantine area will be issued a treatment order by the Department under authority of the act. The treatment order will direct the removal of all stone fruit trees from the untended stone fruit orchard and prescribe other measures necessary to address the PPV threat in that untended orchard. The Department will also provide the owner instructions as to the process through which the Department may award the owner a grant under the program to compensate the owner for the costs of destruction and soil erosion prevention required under the treatment order.
Obtaining an Application
A person seeking a grant under the program shall apply for the grant using a reimbursement grant application/agreement form provided by the Department. The forms may be obtained through the following contact person.
Contents of Application
An application for a grant under the program will require the following information from an applicant:
1. The name and address of the applicant.
2. Verification that the applicant is an owner of an untended stone fruit orchard.
3. A description of the location of the untended stone fruit orchard with respect to which a grant is sought.
4. Verification that the untended stone fruit orchard with respect to which a grant is sought is the subject of a treatment order issued by the Department, directing that stone fruit trees in that untended orchard be destroyed, removed or otherwise disposed of for purposes of controlling or containing PPV.
5. Verification that prior to the destruction of the stone fruit trees the applicant and the Department personnel conducted a physical inspection of the untended orchard to assess the approximate number of stone fruit trees and the approximate acreage affected by the treatment order and had agreed upon the accuracy of this information in writing.
6. The stone fruit tree number and acreage figures described in paragraph (5).
7. Verification that the measures required under the treatment order have been carried out, and that the stone fruit trees in the untended orchard have been removed, destroyed or otherwise disposed of in accordance with that treatment order.
8. Verification of the costs incurred by the applicant in carrying out the treatment order.
9. Verification that the applicant is not entitled to reimbursement for destruction or replacement of the untended stone fruit trees under: (a) the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program; (b) the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program; (c) the Plum Pox Virus Noncommercial Prunus Tree and Landscape Nursery Prunus Tree Indemnity Program; or (d) the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program.
10. A signature acknowledging that representations made in the application are true, and further acknowledging that the criminal punishments and penalties of 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904 (relating to unsworn falsification to authorities) apply to any false statement made in the application.
Grant Amount
A portion of the grant amount shall address the cost of removal and destruction of the untended stone fruit trees and any other PPV abatement measure required under the treatment order. The amount of a grant to be applied to these removal, destruction and PPV abatement costs shall not exceed $1,000 per acre. A portion of the grant amount may also address the cost of implementing reasonable erosion measures (such as planting a conservation-type grass cover crop) on the land from which the untended stone fruit trees are removed--if those erosion measures are necessary. In calculating the appropriate grant amount, the Department will consider the number of untended stone fruit trees on the affected acreage.
Review of Applications
The Department will review and approve or disapprove complete, timely grant applications within 30 days of receipt. The Department will stamp or otherwise identify each grant application to record the date and the order in which the application was received. The Department will consider grant applications in the order they are received. The Department will approve a grant application if all of the following criteria are met:
1. The application is complete and provides the Department all the information necessary to a reasoned review of the document.
2. There are sufficient unencumbered funds available from the $500,000 appropriation contained in the Appropriation Act of 2004 and $1 million nonlapsing appropriation contained in the Appropriation Act of 2003 to fund the grant amount sought in the reimbursement grant application.
Notice of Decision
The Department will, within 10 days of completing its review, inform (whether by mail or other means) a grant applicant of whether the grant application is approved or disapproved. If the application is disapproved, the written notice will specify the basis for disapproval.
No Right or Entitlement to Funds
The appropriation of funds for the purposes previously described does not create in a person a right or entitlement to a grant from these funds. Departmental approval of a grant application is the event that establishes entitlement of the applicant to the grant funds sought, provided appropriated funds are available in an amount adequate to fund the grant.
Additional Information/Contact Person
Applications and further information can be obtained by contacting the Department of Agriculture, Attn.: Karl Valley, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408, (717) 772-5226.
DENNIS C WOLFF,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 04-1643. Filed for public inspection September 3, 2004, 9:00 a.m.]
