Karnal Bunt Regulated Areas

We are adopting as a final rule, with changes, an interim rule that amended the Karnal bunt regulations by modifying the criteria for classifying regulated areas and by modifying the classification of restricted areas. The interim rule required that a bunted wheat kernel be found in or associated with a field within an area before that area would be designated as a regulated area. The interim rule also established separate restricted areas for seed and for regulated articles other than seed. The actions taken in the interim rule were necessary because tests currently available for use in identifying spores do not allow us to differentiate between small numbers of Karnal bunt spores and the spores of an as yet unnamed, but widely distributed, ryegrass smut. The interim rule had the effect of removing some areas in Arizona and California from the list of regulated areas and relieving restrictions on the movement of grain and other regulated articles from additional areas in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.