PIERCE’S DISEASE ADVISORY TASK FORCE SETS MEETING FOR AUGUST 26, 2002

SACRAMENTO, August 22, 2002-The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Pierce’s Disease Advisory Task Force is scheduled to meet August 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CDFA Auditorium, 1220 “N” Street, Room 127, Sacramento, CA 95814. The group, appointed by CDFA Secretary William (Bill) J. Lyons, Jr., guides the statewide effort to fight Pierce’s disease and the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a flying pest that threatens California grapes and other crops.

The glassy-winged sharpshooter feeds and lays eggs on hundreds of plant species. It can carry bacteria that causes Pierce’s disease in grapevines and other diseases in additional plants. The sharpshooter has infested Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Kern counties, and smaller segments of Butte, Contra Costa, Imperial, Sacramento, Fresno, and Tulare counties.

For additional information on the glassy-winged sharpshooter and Pierce’s disease, please visit www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdcp

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FLEX YOUR POWER. To meet California’s energy challenge, CDFA urges businesses and consumers to conserve. For a list of simple ways that you can reduce demand and cut your energy costs, see our Web site @www.cdfa.ca.gov.