By DAVID ROSS
Valley Center farmers have their own war now: A war against the Mexfly. It’s an economic war, not a health issue. Losing is not an option.
In what appears to be the worst case of fruit fly infestation in 50 years in San Diego County, the County Dept. of Agriculture Friday morning announced that several adult Mexican fruit flies and larvae had been found on a grove in Valley Center.
The County estimates that a thousand farmers and $75 million in crops in VC are at risk.
The best case scenario predicts that this war will last eight months and focus on a five mile circle that includes much of VC and Pauma Valley.
If you doubt that it is war, just listen to the various state, federal and county government officials discussing a “unified command” structure and “command posts.”
In coming days growers within the designated area who want to move fruit must sign a compliance agreement and submit to having fruit treated with bait spray. If they don’t sign they won’t be able to move their fruit. Anyone who handles their fruit must sign the same agreement.
According to Vince Arellano, of the California Dept. of Agriculture, “pretty much every fruit that grows in Valley Center is a host to the Mexican fruit fly.” The exception are sour limes and sour lemons. Vegetables are also not a host.
The bad news
Jerome Stehly, recently reelected as chairman of the California Avocado Commission, was in a board meeting when he heard the bad news last Thursday.
He told other grove owners and the news spread like wildfire. Friday, when Kathleen Thuner, the County’s Department of Agriculture Commissioner, held a news conference at VC’s Community Hall to alert the media that five adult Mexican fruit flies had been caught on a VC farm, over a hundred growers were there too.
Three days later, on Monday night, close to 500 people overflowed the Middle School auditorium (see below).
The County is working to identify the range and level of the infestation and to eradicate it.
Some low level aerial spraying of the “core” infested areas has apparently taken place, but no mass passovers of malathion spraying helicopters are planned. That is drawing some criticism from growers who just want to “nuke” the infested areas before the flies spread.
But Thuner defends the use of lower level use of poisoned traps and some lower area spraying as being more effective.
The initial area of infestation and treatment is near the intersection of Keys Creek & Lilac roads on the property of longtime VC citrus rancher Al Stehly (Jerome’s brother).
At last count (Monday) 45 adult Mexican fruit flies and two larval specimens have been trapped in 14 separate locations within a 2.5 square mile area.
No quarantine, yet
No quarantine has been declared, although it will almost certainly by next week.
According to Larry Hawkins, of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, “There’s no quarantine yet because they have only been trapping for three days. Before we slap a quarantine we need a few days to identity the area of infestation.”
Until that area stops growing, authorities won’t declare a quarantine.
That’s also the reason that Mrs. Thuner gives for holding off on aerial spraying of the core areas.
Hawkins parked the U.S.D.A.’s command center at the County Dept. of Public Works road yards Monday morning. More trailers will arrive in coming days. Within a day or two the trailers will be open and have a local phone number and be available for local farmers to get help.
Mike Hennessy of the USDA, who is in overall charge of the Feds’ efforts, says that as many USDA employees as are needed will be available to treat the fruit.
“Our rapid response team can be here in twenty-four hours. I can draw on staff from all over the United States. We will have enough people to deal with this,” he said.
How large an area?
Beyond the area of infestation and treatment is the area that will likely come under quarantine regulations.
On the eastern arc of the circle whose center is the site of the infestation is the Pauma Valley Country Club. On the southern arc is the Valley Roadrunner office at Cole Grade & Valley Center Roads. On the western arc, the Faircrest Way area of Hidden Meadows. The western arc crosses I-15 into southern/eastern Bonsall.
The decision to quarantine will be made by the state and federal governments.
The Mexican fruit fly attacks citrus, sapote, avocados, persimmons, guavas and many other fruits grown commercially and by weekend farmers all over VC. It attacks over 40 varieties in all.
“Disgusting mess”
In her news conference Friday (see complete text, page A1) Thuner described fruit that Mexican fruit flies have inhabited as “a disgusting mess.”
It lays its eggs inside the fruit. The larvae (maggots) feed on the inside of the fruit until it is consumed. Many fruits will simply drop and rot before they are ripe.
The infestation was identified in grapefruit that had been shipped to Arizona to be juiced.
It was traced back to the grove of Al Stehly, who was out of town when he received word.
“I don’t know how it got there. I have never seen Mexflies personally, except in pictures,” Stehly told The Roadrunner Monday morning. “Most of my crop is already gone. I have no options, because I’m in the middle circle. What’s left of my fruit will be destroyed.”
Hawkins, of the USDA, told The Roadrunner Monday, “Any producer or homeowner on which we find this pest, is a victim, not a perpetrator. It’s an exotic insect that doesn’t exist naturally in the United States. Our goal is to eradicate this pest and to do that with the minimum impact to these growers and the community.”
Although many crops in Valley Center have already been harvested, the Mexfly could remain a threat for many months, threatening crops that come on line in coming months.
Monday’s meeting
Members of the San Diego County Farm Bureau got an excellent return on their dues Monday when the Bureau put on a fact-filled, get-to-the point meeting that marched speakers on stage and marched them off when they were finished.
The Bureau’s executive director, Eric Larson told the audience the hard fact that “some of you are not going to get through this unscathed.”
He added, “No one is to blame but all of you can help.”
The best guess for how the pest got to the U.S. is “that it was probably brought up here in a small article of fruit.”
Larger shipments from Mexico are subject to stringent inspections, he said.
Further evidence that the Mexfly arrived by some individual was that it was found in a rural grove, not a populated area.
If the pest is allowed to move out of the area it’s confined to now, “the numbers of Mexflies will multiply significantly,” said Larson.
“If this is established in San Diego County, agriculture in this county will change forever,” with restrictions on movement of fruit that may never be lifted.
“It’s critical that the threat be dealt with quickly!” he said. The problem is that the extent of the infestation hasn’t been determined yet, and probably won’t be until next week.
Other authorities have estimated that the threat to California’s agriculture can be calculated at about $1 billion, particularly if a statewide quarantine has to be established.
Mrs. Thuner emphasized that she has three goals:
1) Limit the infestation to the smallest possible area.
2) Eradicate the infestation.
3) Minimize the impact on trade and produce exports.
The best case scenario for a quarantine is about eight months, she said.
This is based on the life cycle of the Mexican Fruit Fly. Three cycles must pass with no new flies found before the area can be considered cleared.
Under current weather conditions it would take 134 days to determine if the treatment had been successful in an area. That can change if the weather gets cooler or warmer.
If flies continue to be found, the eight months could extend indefinitely.
“We really need your help to contain this,” Mrs. Thuner said. “If you are in an area within the circle, please don’t take your fruit outside of this area.”
Debby Tanouye, with the State Dept. of Agriculture, described the trapping program, which is identifying the extent of the infestation.
Within 81 sq. miles 553 traps have been set, she said, and the trapping radius will soon be extended to 90 sq. miles.
“We will continue to place traps until we stop catching flies,” she said.
John Blasius of USDA described the packets that growers can obtain with compliance agreements that must be filled out before fruit can be moved.
Hennessy of the USDA noted that growers within the core areas whose crops have not yet been picked have the option of getting their crops treated with malathion.
Growers who have already picked their fruit have the option of fumigating the fruit, processing it (turning it into preserves, etc.), drying it or juicing it.
Growers can also choose to wait out the crisis, he said.
Outside of the core infestation, but within the regulated area, growers will have the option of bait treatment. In this procedure bait stations are placed in trees and checked frequently until the treatment cycle is completed.
Organic Farming
Since by definition organic farming is the absence of chemical pesticides, organic farmers may have a big problem.
“We are hoping to find some chemicals that could be used to mitigate the problem that will keep the organic status for the fruit,” said Hawkins.
“There might be a little wiggle room with the certification people,” he said.
Weekly Reports
Once the Mexican Fruit Fly Project trailer is up and running, the USDA will issue weekly reports on the status of the insect’s life cycle, Hawkins said.
“Those dates will change depending on the weather. It’s a moving target,” he said.
Farmers are not the only ones who need to be aware of restrictions.
“Taking fruit out of here really needs to be avoided,” said Hawkins.
Another hazard is lawn care people who may haul fruit waste out of town.
What should you do if you want to get rid of possibly infested fruit?
Hawkins advises putting it in a double bagged opaque garbage bag for commercial pick-up.
“That’s the best way to do it. Putting the fruit in a clear bag is a bad idea because then people see it and look on it as a gift.”
“There will be people who say ‘My fruit looks fine. I looked at it.’ But you can’t tell by looking with the naked eye whether it has been punctured and this insect has laid eggs beneath the surface,” said Hawkins.
Fruit from regulated areas can be eaten or processed or juiced.
The fly larvae is actually not a health issue.
“You’ll just get a little extra protein with your fruit if you drink the juice. It’s not a disease vector,” Hawkins said.
Unofficial quarantine
Although no quarantine has been established yet, there’s an unofficial one, Al Stehly told The Roadrunner.
“There’s no packer that’s going to take anything now,” he said. “The movement of commercial fruit is effectively stopped.”
It’s the underground economy that was the biggest problem in Fallbrook when it was under quarantine,” said Stehly. And the thiefs in the night who stole fruit and perhaps passed it on to small fly-by-night fruit stands.
Growers will have choices in how they personally choose to combat the threat, says Hawkins.
“The most effective way to fight it is to aerial spray. Individual growers may choose to do that or to use bait stations, or to choose to do nothing.”
If pesticides are applied it is done typically from a helicopter several feet above the trees.
In this type of spraying there is little spread of the spray away from the immediate area.
The spray is applied in large drops that fall right onto the tree. “You’d have to be directly under the application equipment to be hit by it,” said Hawkins.
Sterile Fruit Flies
Long term, the most effective way of dealing with the threat may be the release of sterile male Mexican fruit flies.
This has worked in the past, and the unified command is planning on releasing about 80 million males.
Rare infestation
Most infestations of fruit flies occur in urban areas. Usually the culprits are roadside vendors and street vendors who are unregulated who deal in smuggled produce. This is a rare exception to the norm.
Who’s In Charge?
The state, county and federal agriculture departments are jointly in charge of this local crisis.
A quarantine will be established by the state and federal governments.
The state quarantine will regulate intra-state movement, the federal quarantine will regulate interstate movement.
The County will have a big role in helping to coordinate with growers and helping with trapping.
The USDA and state will probably bring in between 35-75 people to help.
That’s because when a grower makes an application to treat fruit a state or federal official must be there to monitor the application.
* * *
The Mexican Fruit Fly Project hotline number is 1-800-491-1899.
The project trailer is parked at 28565 Cole Grade Road and will be open to the public soon.
The County Ag Dept. website: sdcawm.rg has information on the infestation and links to other informational websites.Friday’s news conference:
Thuner: “My name is Kathleen Thuner and I’m the San Diego County Agriculture Commissioner.
“This is actually a media prep conference and I’m going to ask our agriculture community to please defer to questions by the media at this point.
“First of all, I’d like to say that on Monday our office received a call from the State Dept. of Food and Agriculture that there was a finding of larvae in a juice extraction operation in the state of Arizona and that they were tracing those grapefruits back to the various locations from which they had come. We were asked to participate in that. On Tuesday my staff and the Dept. of Food and Agriculture continued that survey. On Wednesday we put out traps in an area where we suspected there might be a problem. On Thursday we began to do fruit cuttings. As of yesterday we located both live adult flies and larvae in the area. The area I’m talking about is inside the yellow zone on the map. It’s inside a half mile radius one mile in area. In that area we have in fact determined the larvae and adults indicating a breeding population of the Mexican fruitfly.
“This area is— as you all know Valley Center is an agricultural area. Inside the yellow area which goes approximately five miles from the radius we have found approximately one thousand growers of agricultural products who could be affected by the fly.
“We have also found that there’s about 6500 acres of crops under production that are actual host crops of the over 88,000 acres of agriculture that’s in the area that could be affected.
“This morning what I’m going to do is ask the County Entomologist Dr. David Kellum to briefly give us an overview about the fly, but before I get any further I’m going to ask the media to do us all a favor. Yesterday we actually discovered mated female fruit flies in that area. Mated female fruit flies, as some of you may remember, are an automatic indicator for regulatory action.
“Should those flies accidentally get in your van and go back to San Diego, or in anybody’s car going back to San Diego, there’s a likelihood that they could spread to areas of the county that are probably not infested and I know that they are not infested because we have an excellent trapping program.
“Despite that excellent trapping program, when we find a mated female in other areas of the county we have to assume that we have a regulatory incident. Therefore I am requesting the media not to go inside the yellow areas. We will provide you with the opportunity to meet with growers, to go out to the locations to see the fruit that is affected.
“The California Dept. of Food & Agriculture will be able to show you what the traps look like that are helping us to determine exactly how big a problem we have. So we think we’ve provided you with what you need to get the message out. So with that caveat I’d like to let Dr. Kellum describe to you this morning a bit about he Mexican Fruit Fly, which, as we all know is named after the fruit fly because it is a native of central Mexico. Dr. Kellum.”
Kellum: “Good morning. This will be fairly short, unlike the life cycle of the fruit fly. The average life cycle of the Mexican fruit fly under optimal conditions is all temperature driven. Normally the life cycle is in summertime, five weeks. In the wintertime, in the cooler months, about five months. So we’re looking at a long period of time for this life cycle. The females live for two and half weeks to a month and the males live a little bit longer.
“Now, when they hatch out, before they mate, there’s a period of time, eight to 15 days when there’s no mating period. When they mate there’s a period after mating when females cannot lay eggs for about one to eight days.
“So you’re already looking at two to three weeks after the fruit fly has hatched out. The female lays eggs singly into the fruit, different kinds of fruit. Primarily, we’ll talk about grapefruit and other fruit. She lays eggs singly, up to 18 eggs, in the life cycle. She’s going to going to go after many different fruit there, up to 400 or a thousand eggs during her lifetime period. The larval stage lasts about 15 days. The pupal stage depending on the weather can last for 15 days to 107 days.
“We’re talking here a period of several months, up to eight months for a whole three life cycles to occur.
“We’re talking about a long period of time that this fly is going to impact the area.
“As I mentioned, the fruit fly male can live up to six months. The male matures faster, this is why we commonly pick up males first, because the mature faster. They are trapped in the MacPhail traps and the other traps that we have out there. The males and females mate at that point.
“The Mexican fruit fly is slightly larger than the house fly, about 1.7 centimeters and it’s a yellowish brown color we stripes on it. It’s very easy to recognize once you see one. Females have a low ovipositor, which is basically for laying of eggs, but she also uses to penetrate the fruit to lay those eggs.”
Thuner: “There are fourteen of the hosts that we know are grown in this area, so far. And that includes as diverse a crop as apples, avocados, all kinds of citrus, pomegranates and guavas. So there are a lot of different growers in the area.
“We are working as we speak to develop a good feeling for how big a problem this is. We have traps out now in the area in increased density for a couple of days. We intend to service those traps every day for seven days after we receive the initial deployment. That will help us to get a good handle on where the core area might be.
“This is the largest outbreak we have found since the outbreak in San Ysidro in 1954. We normally find flies, as you can recall from Fallbrook, sometimes several of them, but this is the first time, as I said, that we have found several of them in the county.
“We attribute that to a couple of things, one that we have an excellent detection program, and her representing the department of
“We are putting together our assessment because we do not have at this time a formal quarantine. We are asking that people who have products inside of the area not to move those products or host materials.”
END OF TRANSCRIPTION
After months of community anticipation, the Valley Center library is about to open in its new building, and library staff have planned a week long series of events to celebrate.
At the Grand Opening on Wed., Dec. 4, at 3:30 p.m., San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn, County Librarian Marilyn Crouch and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Alex Martinez will cut the ribbon and officially open the doors. The Boy Scouts will provide a color guard. Eva Fry, a 12-year resident of Valley Center, singer, song-writer and author, will sing a song she has written about Valley Center.
After the ceremony, Marci and Charles Carr will provide a background of choral music inside the library. Light refreshments will be served in one of the new community rooms, and library staff will lead tours every hour.
On Thurs., Dec. 5 at 11 a.m., Conductor Dave will lead storytime for preschoolers. At 3:30 p.m., “The Gingerbread Man” will come to life in the puppet theatre, courtesy of library staff Richard Rivera and Sandy Puccio.
Storyteller Harlynn Geisler will entertain children on Friday at 3:30.
Hot dogs and sodas are lunch on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., at the old-fashioned, 25-years-of-waiting-for-this-library price of 25 cents each, thanks to the Country Junction Deli.
The Middle School Jazz Band, followed by the Boulos sisters, will entertain at 2 p.m., and Ann’s School of Dance will present “Cinderella” at 3.
The Valley Center Nursery and Dos Valles Garden Club will decorate the library with flowers and plants for the week. Bell Gardens, Bates Nut Farm, and Valley View Casino are contributing refreshments for the opening.
Tours of the new library will continue every day during the week.
By DAVID ROSS
VC Fire Board Thursday elected new officers.
President of the board is Patrick Garcia, Vice President, Stan Johnson; Firefighter Assn. liaison, Mel Schuler; Secretary, Mike Pacheco and Treasurer, Dan Thornton.
Garcia took the opportunity to thank voters for a second term on the board (he was reelected unopposed).
His goals as president, he said, are to provide methods of increasing funding such as grants and to meet the requirements for a better ISO rating.
Speaking of outgoing board president Mel Schuler, he said, “I commend Mr. Schuler for his leadership and for keeping the board unified.”
Traffic Safety
The board continued to move forward on its campaign to pressure the County to stay on the timetable for the widening of Valley Center Road.
The fire district’s issue is safety on the road.
It has sent a letter to the County’s Traffic Advisory Council and another is going to Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn.
The next step, said Thornton, who is pushing the matter, is to get other agencies in town to pass similar resolutions.
Next step will be to start circulating petitions demanding that the County push forward on the roadwork without delay.
But the district is also worried about the talk of medians on Valley Center Road.
Currently a subcommittee of the VC Planning Group is looking at options for a landscaped median.
“Whatever happens, we don’t want our response times to be lengthened, like we do when we’re going down the grade,” commented Chief Kevin O’Leary.
“We want a lot of ability to be able to turn our engines around,” said the chief.
Director Stan Johnson commented, “Many business are concerned that they won’t be able to turn in to their businesses.”
Board President Garcia added, “Our position is that we don’t want this thing delayed any longer. We are going to take a proactive voice on this. We want to stay focused on that game plan, get the letters out and then get the petitions,” he said.
Hydrant Exception
The board voted to give an exception for a fire hydrant requirement to Doug Priest.
Gary Wynn, who represents Priest, told the board that his client has 40 acres at the end of Alta Mira Way that was split 20 years ago.
His property is located on a hill overlooking Old Castle Road. In order to build a house on it he needed the fire district to sign off on the plans.
The nearest a hydrant could be located to his property is 1500 feet away. Under the fire code Priest would have to pay $80,000 to install a hydrant that would not really efficiently serve his property, Wynn said.
He asked for and received permission to install a 6,000 gallon water tank instead.
“The code isn’t always an exact fit for each development,” commented director Dan Thornton. “If we are going to require a hydrant that far away we aren’t achieving our standards. I don’t see the value of requiring something that won’t achieve the purpose.”
Fellow directors agreed.
No Loaning
The board agreed to a motion by Thornton to not loan district vehicles to neighboring fire districts for more than 48 hours, and then only under extreme circumstances.
“I don’t think we should get into the business of loaning vehicles. I have no problem loaning equipment as long as our personnel goes with it. We spend a lot of money on engines. We spend a lot of money to keep them up and I’m very protective of that.”
Entries are available for the Miss Valley Center Pageant which will be held on March 1, 2003 at Valley Center Middle School.
You can find entry forms at Valley Center High, Mimi’s Nails, and Valley Center Chamber of Commerce or call Karen Greene at 749-1863 work/home or 715-4362 (cell) for an entry form or questions.
Rules and Regulations for Fairest of the Fair and the Valley Center Pageant Assn: Contestants must be between the ages of 17 and 24 and not yet 25 by June 1.
If a contestant is 17, she must be a senior in an accredited high school. Contestants must have been born female, must be single, never have been married or had a marriage annulled, must never have given birth to a child or have been a mother, nor be pregnant, and must be of good moral character.
Contestant must have been a resident of the area in which she will compete at least four (4) months prior to the area pageant and a citizen of the United States.
All rules and regulations for the pageant will be supplied upon request or through an entry form and attendance of VCPA Orientation. Orientation will be on Jan. 9, 2003 or Jan. 11, 2003. It is mandatory that each contestant attend one of these dates.
Rehearsals will begin the week of Jan. 13, 2003, twice a week for at least three hours each day through the pageant date.
The Miss Valley Center Pageant is sponsored by the Valley Center Chamber of Commerce and directed and promoted by the new Valley Center Pageant Assn.
The mission of the Valley Center Pageant Assn. is to promote and produce a high quality scholarship pageant for the specific purpose of seeking out a young woman in the community who is a role model, who is articulate, who can serve as an ambassador of Valley Center at the Fairest of the Fair and throughout her reign, who has the willingness to serve and the graciousness of a queen.
The association believes education is knowledge, and that knowledge is the most valuable asset a person can aspire to gain.
“Therefore, the long term vision of the VCPA is to increase education scholarships for the contestants of the pageant and to encourage and enable young women to attend institutions of higher learning to further develop themselves intellectually and socially. Our goals are to increase the scholarships for the contestants on all levels,” Mrs. Greene told The Roadrunner.
The VCPA is a nonprofit organization with 501C3 status applied for and pending. Donations may be tax deductible. Check with your tax advisor.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
Copyright © 2002, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.