Imported Fire Ant Quarantined Areas

We are adopting as a final rule, with one change, an interim rule that amended the imported fire ant regulations by designating all or portions of the following as quarantined areas: The entire State of Mississippi; Mecklenburg County in North Carolina; Bradley, Hamilton, McMinn, and Wayne Counties in Tennessee; and Brooks, Cameron, Delta, Dimmit, Duval, Jack, Kenedy, Kinney, Lamar, Mason, McCulloch, Montague, San Saba, Webb, Young, and Zavala Counties in Texas. As amended by this document, the rule expands the quarantined areas and imposes certain restrictions on the interstate movement of quarantined articles from those areas. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the imported fire ant to noninfested areas of the United States.