December 2014 – The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has published its final Statewide Plant Pest Prevention and Management Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR). The report is available on the CDFA web site at http://cdfa.ca.gov/plant/peir/index.html.CDFA is mandated to prevent the introduction and spread of injurious insect or animal pests, plant diseases, and noxious weeds in California (California Food and Agricultural Code Section 403). To accomplish this, CDFA implements the Statewide Plant Pest Prevention and Management Program (Statewide Program), an ongoing effort to protect California’s agriculture from damage caused by invasive plant pests. The Statewide Program is implemented in partnership with a number of entities including international trading partners, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, County Agricultural Commissioners, other public agencies, industry groups, and academia.

CDFA has prepared this PEIR to provide an up-to-date, transparent and comprehensive evaluation of CDFA’s activities, and to serve as an overarching California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) framework for efficient and proactive implementation of Statewide Program activities.