(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this section, the Administrator will list as a quarantined area each State or portion of a State determined to be infested with the imported fire ant. The Administrator will also list as a quarantined area an area that is uninfested but determined to be in proximity to an infestation or that is determined to be inseparable from an infested locality for quarantine purposes; such a determination will be based on projections of spread of imported fire ant around the periphery of the infestation, as determined by previous years' surveys; availability of natural habitats and host materials, within the uninfested acreage, suitable for establishment and survival of imported fire ant populations; and the necessity of including uninfested acreage within the quarantined area in order to establish readily identifiable boundaries. The Administrator will publish a list of all quarantined areas (the quarantine list) on the PPQ website at www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/imported-fire-ants/ct_imported_fire_ants. The list will include the date that the list was last updated. Lists of all quarantined areas may also be obtained by request from any local PPQ office; local offices are listed in telephone directories and on the internet at www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/ppq-program-overview/sphd. After a change is made to the list of quarantined areas, APHIS will publish a notice in the Federal Register informing the public that the change has occurred and describing the change to the quarantined areas. Less than an entire State will be designated as a quarantined area only if the Administrator determines that:

(1) The State has adopted and is enforcing restrictions on the intrastate movement of the regulated articles that are equivalent to the interstate movement restrictions imposed by this subpart; and

(2) Designating less than the entire State as a quarantined area will prevent the spread of the imported fire ant.

(b) The Administrator or an inspector may temporarily designate any nonquarantined area as a quarantined area in accordance with the criteria specified in paragraph (a) of this section. The Administrator will give written notice of this designation to the owner or person in possession of the nonquarantined area, or, in the case of publicly owned land, to the person responsible for the management of the nonquarantined area; thereafter, the interstate movement of any regulated article from an area temporarily designated as a quarantined area is subject to this subpart. As soon as practicable, this area either will be added to the quarantine list, or the Administrator will terminate the designation. The owner or person in possession of, or, in the case of publicly owned land, the person responsible for the management of, an area for which the designation is terminated will be given written notice of the termination as soon as practicable.

[87 FR 80012, Dec. 29, 2022]