News Release

July 23, 2010

Contact:
Chelsea Good
Communications Director
Kansas Department of Agriculture
(785) 296-2653 phone
(913) 735-9065 cell
Chelsea.Good@kda.ks.gov

Ag department issues quarantine to protect state’s black walnut trees

TOPEKA—Secretary of Agriculture Josh Svaty made it harder for the walnut twig beetle to hitch a ride into Kansas this week when he signed a quarantine aimed at protecting the state’s black walnut trees from the dangerous pest. 

“The walnut twig beetle has been infecting black walnut trees in states west of here with thousand cankers disease, a fungus that ultimately kills the tree,” said Savty. “This quarantine will help us protect our black walnut trees while allowing commercial trade involving walnut trees, plants and wood products that are free of the beetle and the disease.”

Under the quarantine, persons or businesses that handle or move walnut plants, walnut trees, wood, or other material harvested from walnut trees, must register with the Kansas Department of Agriculture. 

The quarantine also identifies products of interest that could provide a vehicle for the walnut twig beetle to arrive in the state.  These include plants, logs, lumber, firewood, bark, mulch, burls, stumps and packing material. 

Products of interest that originate from states known to have the disease or beetle – California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington – must be accompanied by a certificate that verifies the items were inspected after harvest to ensure they are free of the disease and the beetle.  The same inspection and certificate are required for products of interest originating from states that do not conduct an annual survey for the pest and disease.  A certificate is not required for products from areas that are surveyed annually and are confirmed free of both the disease and beetle.  

“These requirements will allow us to better control the walnut tree products that make it into our state, which is important if we are to stem the spread of this devastating disease,” Svaty said. 

Exempt from the quarantine are nuts, nut meat, hulls, finished wood products without bark, and processed lumber without bark that has been heat treated to 133 degrees Fahrenheit and originates from states, territories and foreign countries where the disease and the beetle have not been detected. 

Anyone who violates the quarantine is subject to criminal prosecution and could be ordered to pay civil penalties and all expenses associated with treating, destroying or removing regulated articles from the state.

The walnut twig beetle is a minute, yellowish-brown bark beetle native to North America that has strayed from its native host, the Arizona walnut, to black walnut, the walnut tree most common in Kansas.  When it tunnels its way under the tree’s bark, it can introduce a new form of Geosmithia, a fungus that causes cankers that ultimately kill the tree.  Currently there are no effective methods for controlling the pest or preventing the disease.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture plant protection and weed control program has been working with the Kansas Forest Service and K-State Research and Extension to monitor for the disease and to educate arborists, woodworkers, the timber industry and the public about thousand cankers disease of walnut.  The trio hosted pest detector workshops in Wichita and Lawrence this spring. More workshops will be scheduled this fall in Emporia, Hays and Garden City.

“There are over 26 million black walnut trees in Kansas that are the heart of our forest products industry,” says Larry Biles, State Forester, Kansas Forest Service.  Economists estimate a potential loss of over $160 million if the disease complex is introduced into the state.  The environmental benefits of black walnut are also important to the people of Kansas.

More information about thousand cankers disease of walnut is available at www.ksda.gov/plant_protection/content/378.  

The full quarantine is accessible online at www.ksda.gov/plant_protection/content/360/cid/1704.

Read the Kansas Forest Service news release about thousand cankers disease of walnut at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/story/canker_quarantine072310.aspx.