Walnut quarantine issued in Pennsylvania

Following the detection of thousand cankers disease in Lancaster County, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture enacted an immediate quarantine to restrict the movement of walnut and related products.

Lancaster joins Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, which were quarantined in August, and Bucks County, which was quarantined in 2011.

The quarantine restricts the movement of all walnut material and hardwood firewood from the six Pennsylvania counties and other states known to have the disease.

Nuts, processed lumber and finished wood products without bark are exempt from the quarantine.

The disease was found in fields with black walnut trees in Drumore Township, Lancaster County. Samples were verified by the state and federal departments of agriculture. This is the third detection of thousand cankers disease in the state, according to the PDA.

The quarantine also restricts the movement of walnut material and hardwood firewood from states known to have thousand cankers disease including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

For information, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and search "thousand cankers."