Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service August 17, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This is a notice to inform the public of four upcoming meetings to discuss mitigation measures that could be applied to wood packaging material (e.g., crates, dunnage, wooden spools, pallets, packing blocks) used in domestic commerce to decrease the risk of the artificial spread of plant pests such as the emerald ash borer and the Asian longhorned beetle. These and other plant pests that could be transported interstate by wood packaging material pose a serious threat to U.S. agriculture and to natural, cultivated, and urban forests. We will also be holding a meeting in order to solicit public comments and ideas concerning potential strategies for mitigating the risk of artificial spread of plant pests via the movement of firewood.