Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Rule Subject:
Plant Pest Import Controls and Quarantines
Adm. Code Reference:
ATCP 21
Clearinghouse #:
Not Applicable
DATCP Docket #:
15-R-17
Rule Description
This emergency rule creates
a
quarantine for
Marquette
County
for
e
merald
a
sh
b
orer
(“EAB”)
. Under this rule
,
the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
(“DATCP”) quarantines
Marquette
County
to mitigate the movement of
EAB
to other areas of Wisconsin and other states.
DATCP is adopting this temporary emergency rule pending the adoption of a federal regulation
to quarantine
Marquette
County
. The emergency rule will take effect immediately upon publication in the official state newspaper, and will remain in effect for
150 days. The Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules may extend the emergency rule for up to 120 additional days
.
The United States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”) positively identified EAB in
Marquette
County
in the town of Montello
on July
29, 2015
.
This emergency rule creates
a DATCP quarantine
for
Marquette
County
.
F
ederal quarantine
s
will
be enacted approximately
six to
eight
weeks after a formal submission by the st
ate plant regulatory official.
E
AB
is carried
and spread
by untreated ash wood products. A
six
-
week delay until enactment of the federal quarantine leaves too much time for businesses or individuals to move potentially
EAB
inf
ested material out of the counties
to areas of Wisconsin or other states that are not infested with
EAB
.
Key Rule Provisions
•
Create
s
a
quarantine
for
EAB
for
Marquette
County
that prohibit
s
the movement of
all hardwood species of
firewood, nursery stock, green lumber, and other material living, dead, cut
,
or fallen, including logs, stumps, roots, branches
,
and composted and uncomposted chips of the genus
Fraxinus
(Ash wood), out of the
contiguous quarantined area
in southeastern Wisconsin
.
•
Provides an exemption for items that have been inspected and certified by a pest control official and are accompanied by a written certificate issued by the pest control official
(some
products, such as ash nursery stock
, cannot be given an exemption)
.
•
Provides an exemption for businesses that enter into a state or federal compliance agreement. The compliance agreement
describes in detail
what a company can and cannot do with regulated articles.
Small Business Affected
This emergency rule may have an impact on persons or companies that deal in any hardwood firewood or ash materials in
Marquette
County.
The affected businesses are all small businesses. This emergency rule restricts the sale or distribution of ash products plus any hardwood firewood from
Marquette
County
to locations outside of
the contiguously quarantined counties of
southwe
stern Wisconsin and neighboring states
.
The business impact of this emergency rule depends on the number of
1)
nurseries that sell/distribute ash nursery stock outside
the
count
y,
2)
firewood producers/dealers that sell/distribute outside
the count
y
,
3)
sawmills that move untreated ash stock
(green lumber)
outside
the
count
y
, and
4) untreated
wood waste
(
e.g.
,
ash brush, chips
,
or mulch)
that is moved outside
the county
.
Marquette
County
has
a total of
seven
licensed nursery growers that could possibly be growing ash nursery stock. Those growers will not be able to
move or
sell ash nursery stock outside of the
contiguous quarantine area of
southwe
stern
Wisconsin, though discussions with the Wisconsin Nursery Association indicate that few, if any, nurseries continue to sell ash trees
. There
is also
one known firewood dealer
in
Marquette
County.
Firewood dealers
would need to be certified under
s.
ATCP 21.20
to sell
or move
firewood outside of the
contiguous quarantine area
. To obtain certification
,
a firewood dealer pay
s a $50
annual
certification fee to DATCP
and treat
s the firewood in a manner that e
nsures it is free of
EAB
.
There
are
five
lumber
mill
s
in
Marquette
County
and an
estimated
four
other tree service/
wood processing facilities
that
may also
deal with ash. To
transport
ash wood products outside of
the contiguous quarantine area
,
they will have to enter into a compliance agreement with DATCP or APHIS that authorizes movement
of ash products outside of the
quarantine
only when there is assurance that the movement will not spread
EAB
to other locations.
Reporting, Bookkeeping and other Procedures
Nursery growers will not have any additional reporting or record-keeping requirements. Wood products industries (
e.g.
,
firewood producers or
saw
mills) who enter into a compliance agreement shall keep records of all regulated product movement that leaves the contiguous quarantine area.
Professional Skills Required
No additional professional skills are required.
Accommodation for
Small Business
DATCP recognizes that every small business is different.
DATCP
will
work with individual businesses to meet the requirements of the quarantine while accommodating the unique chara
cter
of the i
ndividual business. Therefore
compliance agreement
s
will be designed to satisfy the regulations with minimal negative effects to the business.
Conclusion
This rule will help
affected businesses in
Marquette
County
to move ash wood and material without moving
EAB
from the
ir county
to areas free from
EAB
. This will in turn help to protect the
resources on which they depend. This rule may impose additional costs on some businesses, including small businesses,
depending on the nature of their ash wood business.
T
he D
epartment works closely with each affected business to minimize any costs and
these costs are
outweighed by the protection
of
Wisconsin’s ash resource
.
