General Information
Quarantines & Maps
To
date, more than 3,000 locations mostly in Southern California have been
treated for Red Imported Fire Ants.
The majority of these treatments have occurred in Orange County, the location
where Red Imported Fire Ants were first discovered in California. This
section provides:
Since the 1998 discovery of Red Imported Fire Ants in California, the state has been pursuing an aggressive eradication program to eliminate this non-native ant species from our state. Eradication of the pest is being conducted by local government agencies under contract with the state. Those agencies are located in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Red Imported Fire Ant finds in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento County are being treated by state officials in conjunction with county agricultural commissioners.
The discovery of Red Imported Fire Ants in California resulted in the establishment of a quarantine for all of Orange County and portions of Los Angeles and Riverside counties. These quarantines restrict the movement of soil, nursery products and other articles that harbor Red Imported Fire Ants. Nurseries in the quarantine area treat their products to ensure that they are free of Red Imported Fire Ants.