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Colorado vineyards won't seek quarantine for damaging insect

Posted at 5:05 PM, Jan 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-31 19:05:23-05

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Vineyard owners in Colorado say they will not pursue quarantine for a grapevine-damaging insect found in both of the state's grape-growing regions.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/2kndlF2 ) that the nonprofit Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology announced last week that it will not pursue a quarantine of phylloxera. CAVE Board President Kaibab Sauvage says it's too late for a quarantine to stop the spread of the bug.

Phylloxera has been confirmed at four vineyards in Palisade and on Orchard Mesa. It was also found at a vineyard in the North Fork Valley and is present in both of the federally designated viticulture areas of Colorado.

CAVE members supported a strategy of educating vineyard owners and providing help instead of paying to have the state enforce a quarantine.

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Information from: The Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com

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