State agriculture officials have set the official boundaries for the Carneros quarantine prompted by the recent discovery of the Light Brown Apple Moth in the area. The pest was found in Napa County on July 23. A second moth was found in a trap 1.5 miles away in Sonoma County on Aug. 8.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has established a 19-square-mile boundary straddling Napa and Sonoma counties.

The drawing of the boundaries was a cooperative effort between the Napa and Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner’s offices and CDFA, said Dave Whitmer, ag commissioner in Napa County.

The pest in Napa County was found in a trap near Duhig Road and Ramal Road, south of Highway 121 and west of the Domaine Carneros winery. The second moth was uncovered nearby in southeastern Sonoma County, near the county line.

The quarantine area parallels or touches Carneros Highway from Ramal Road west past Duhig. The quarantine border then turns south and runs parallel to and just west of Los Carneros Avenue, along Milton Road, then east on the vineyard areas near the Napa River sloughs, then north towards Schellville on Ramal Road.

Whitmer said the United States Department of Agriculture got involved because the Light Brown Apple Moth is considered a pest at the federal level — not just in California.

“In this case a federal quarantine has not been done,” he said. “As a result we were able to draw more precise boundaries using the state quarantine. We have notified the growers affected by this that this is coming.”

Under the compliance agreement in the impacted area, growers have the option of having their vineyard inspected before they harvest or tarping their loads of grapes for transporting to wineries.

“We are asking wineries to crush the grapes as quickly as they can,” Whitmer added.

In a press release, CDFA Secretary A. G. Kawamura said, “This quarantine is designed to keep the moths from moving out of the area,” said. “It is a necessary step so that we can contain and eventually eradicate this pest from California and to protect the rest of the state from added quarantines and increased pesticide use over the long term.”

One hundred moth traps have been set in the core area and 25 traps have been set per square mile in the surrounding area.

The hungry pest as an appetite for more than 250 crops.

The Light Brown Apple Moth is native to Australia and is also found in New Zealand, according to a CDFA press release.