State and county ag officials brief Yorba Linda on invasive fruit flies and Asian citrus psyllid

Representatives from the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Orange County Agricultural Commissioner briefed the Yorba Linda City Council on Oct. 7 about invasive fruit flies and the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), which transmits the incurable citrus disease huanglongbing (HLB).

Dana Napalillo, a CDFA pest prevention specialist, described prevention and early-detection activities including port inspections, parcel facility monitoring (UPS, FedEx, USPS) and a large trapping network. She outlined response steps the agencies use after a detection: enhanced trapping, quarantine zones generally described as a 4.5-mile radius around a find, removal of infested fruit, witnessed treatments at grower sites and use of a sterile-insect technique to reduce wild populations.

“Prevention [and] early detection” were presented as the centerpiece of the response strategy, Napalillo said, and she urged residents not to move produce or plants into or out of California and to report suspect trees or groves to the state hotline.

Jose Arriaga, Orange County’s agricultural commissioner, described local enforcement and interception work. He said inspectors checked packages at UPS, FedEx and postal facilities and that the county had inspected more than 23,000 packages in 2024, detecting dozens of high‑risk nonnative pests. Arriaga also discussed a USDA-supported detector-dog program used to screen high volumes of parcels and freight; the dogs are trained to make hits on boxes that contain fresh produce.

On citrus-specific threats, speakers noted the ACP is the vector of HLB and that the psyllid has been detected in multiple Southern California counties. The presenters said county records show more than 6,500 detections in Orange County and that, locally, roughly 214 infected trees at 83 sites were detected in Yorba Linda (figures quoted in the presentation). CDFA described symptom recognition — blotchy, asymmetrical leaf yellowing and bitter, misshapen fruit — and said infected residential trees will be removed at no charge when HLB is confirmed.

The agencies noted control options used in the field, including increased trapping and release of biological control wasps targeted at ACP, and asked residents to report suspect groves or unmanaged trees. Napalillo and Arriaga provided a pest hotline and social-media contacts for reporting and updates; they also encouraged residents to watch the city’s social media for notices of treatment activity.

Council members thanked staff and the presenters and asked staff to ensure the public is aware of how to identify credentialed field crews visiting neighborhoods. Dana Napalillo noted the crews wear a patch identifying CDFA staff and asked residents to look for that identification when approachers knock on doors.