Oregon Revised Statutes
As used in ORS 570.010 to 570.050, 570.105 to 570.190, 570.210 to 570.225, 570.320 to 570.360 and 570.405: “Infected” means any appearance of a disease on trees or plants that may be a menace to horticultural or farm crops. “Infested” means when the adult, egg, larvae or pupae of an insect or other plant pest is found in such numbers as, in the opinion of …
COUNTY HORTICULTURAL INSPECTORS
Upon petition of not less than 25 resident fruit growers of any county of this state, the governing body of a county may, subject to the approval of the Director of Agriculture, appoint a county horticultural inspector, whose duties are: To inspect orchards, nurseries, trees, shrubs, vines, fruits, vegetables, plants, packing houses, warehouses, storerooms,…
Upon a petition of not less than 25 resident fruit growers of any county of this state, the county court of such county may, subject to the approval of the Director of Agriculture, appoint one or more deputy county horticultural inspectors. Each deputy inspector shall hold office during the pleasure of the county court and shall have and perform all the powe…
The county horticultural inspectors, deputy county horticultural inspectors and all other persons authorized to enforce the horticultural and inspection laws of Oregon may enter upon or into any premises, land, buildings, enclosures or other places for the purpose of: Inspecting any article that is subject to or may be subject to infestation with any insect…
The State Department of Agriculture shall instruct and educate the county and deputy county horticultural inspectors as to the laws and quarantine regulations of the state, and the rules and regulations of the department. The inspectors shall perform their duties under the general supervision of the department, to which they shall make reports in the manner …
Each county horticultural inspector and deputy inspector shall be paid for services by the county and actual necessary expenses incurred in the performance of duties. The county horticultural inspector and each deputy inspector shall report monthly to the State Department of Agriculture the time for which the inspector or deputy inspector is entitled to pay …
The State Department of Agriculture shall hear and promptly decide all appeals from the county or deputy county horticultural inspectors. Its decisions shall have full force and effect until set aside by the courts of the state. All appeals from inspectors to the department shall be under the form and regulations prescribed by the department.
If any county for any reason fails to appoint a county horticultural inspector or if for any reason the inspector is not available, the nearest inspector available may perform such services, and the compensation of the inspector and the necessary expenses incurred in the performance of duty shall be charged against the county where the service is performed, …
All clerks, bookkeepers, express agents, railroad officials, employees, or employees of common carriers shall render to the State Department of Agriculture and its inspectors all assistance in their power in tracing, finding or discovering the presence of any article named in the horticultural laws. Any refusal or neglect on the part of said persons to rende…
All peace officers in this state shall enforce all quarantine measures promulgated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the State Department of Agriculture.
INSPECTION AND QUARANTINE GENERALLY; ABATEMENT OF NUISANCES
As used in ORS 570.110 to 570.190, unless the context requires otherwise, “nursery stock” includes all trees, shrubs, vines, plants, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits, nuts and other seeds of fruit, forest and ornamental trees and shrubs, both deciduous and evergreen, grown for sale or propagation or planting or collected in the wild, and all flower…
The Director of Agriculture, and such officers, employees and deputies as the director assigns to such duty, shall visit the different parts of the state and shall see that all regulations of the State Department of Agriculture and all provisions of law to prevent the introduction or spread of fruit pests and diseases of trees or plants injurious to the hort…
If upon report of any officer, employee or deputy of the State Department of Agriculture, the Director of Agriculture is of the opinion that any locality, district, orchard or place is infested with fruit pests or infected with disease injurious to trees, plants or fruits, and liable to spread to other orchards or localities to their damage or injury so as t…
The powers conferred in ORS 570.110 and 570.115 shall be exercised only in great and imminent danger to the fruit interests of the state and with utmost caution and regard for the rights of individuals affected, consistent with the safety and welfare of the fruit interest of the whole state.
Upon request of any nurseryman or tree dealer doing business within this state, the Director of Agriculture may deputize a suitable person to inspect outgoing shipments from such nurseryman or tree dealer. The nurseryman or tree dealer shall pay the person so deputized for services while they are required by such nurseryman or tree dealer. In case the shipp…
When any shipment of nursery stock, fruits, vegetables, seed, nuts or field crops is brought into this state or shipped within the state, the required permits, tags or markings of the state of origin must be attached to the container, and the shipment must be free of injurious insects or other plant pests and of eggs, larvae or pupae of injurious insects or …
The officers, employees, deputies and inspectors of the State Department of Agriculture and the county horticultural inspectors and their deputies may enter at any time into any car, warehouse, depot, or upon any ship within the boundaries of this state, whether in the stream or at the dock, wharf, mole or any other place where nursery stock, fruit, vegetabl…
When any shipment of nursery stock, fruits, vegetables, seed, nuts or field crops is found upon inspection to be infested with injurious insects or other plant pests or the eggs, larvae or pupae of injurious insects or other plant pests, the inspector shall give the shipper notice of the pests found and the manner of disposition, as provided for in ORS 570.1…
If, in the judgment of the inspector, materials not infested or infected can be separated from the infested or infected article without danger of the insects or other plant pests or the eggs, larvae or pupae of insects or other plant pests escaping from the article, and the owner or the person having control or possession of the articles desires to separate …
When, in the judgment of the inspector, all or part of a shipment can be treated to exterminate the plant pests or diseases, the owner or responsible agents of the owner shall be so notified. The notice shall include the exact method and materials to be used, and provide that all treatments shall be given under direct supervision of an authorized inspector a…
If no provision is made by the inspecting official for disposition by separation or treatment, the notice provided for in ORS 570.140 must require that all condemned materials be promptly shipped out of the state within a specified time, the limit of which may not be less than 48 hours or more than 10 days, according to the nature of the insects or other pla…
In case the shipment, although apparently sound and not infested or infected by any pests, is from an infested or infected district beyond the limits of this state, the inspector shall notify the owner or person in charge thereof, and shall require such owner or person to fumigate or sterilize such shipment, or to destroy or to treat such shipment in the man…
Any notice required by ORS 570.140 to 570.165 must be delivered in person or sent by mail to the owner or person in charge of the infested or infected articles at the last-known place of address of the owner or person in charge. A notice mailed to the shipper or shippers of infested or infected articles at the return address on any such shipment of infested …
The State Department of Agriculture, whenever the department deems necessary, shall cause an inspection to be made of any orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, vegetables, vines or field crops or any fruit packing house, storeroom, salesroom or any other place or thing within this state. Any places, orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, shrubs, vegetables, vines…
Whenever any public nuisance as described in ORS 570.170 exists at any place in the state on property of any owner upon whom notice has been served and who has failed or refused to abate such nuisance within the time and in the manner specified in such notice, or when any such nuisance exists on the property of a nonresident or on any property the owner of w…
Any authorized officer, employee or inspector of the State Department of Agriculture may, in any case where an urgent emergency exists, abate any public nuisance, as described in ORS 570.170, in a summary manner, doing as little damage as possible to the things or premises on which or in which such nuisance exists, with notice to the owner or owners sent by …
The provisions of ORS 570.170 to 570.180 shall not be construed to apply to shipments of infested or infected articles mentioned in ORS 570.135.
All notices provided for in ORS 570.140 to 570.190 shall be served upon each owner of the infected or infested premises or chattel, or upon the owner of each, if the premises and chattel are under different ownership. Service shall be made in the following manner: If the owners are individuals and can with reasonable diligence be found within the county whe…
PLANT PESTS
The State Department of Agriculture may adopt rules requiring the use of measures to control the spread of a specific plant pest that is not the subject of a quarantine if: Failure to control the plant pest will have an identifiable effect on plants, with a resulting unacceptable level of economic impact in the state; and The measures required by the depar…
A person may not possess or knowingly move a plant pest within this state unless the person possesses: A plant protection and quarantine permit issued by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or by a successor to that service, authorizing the possession or movement; or A State Department of Agriculture pe…
The State Department of Agriculture may conduct research to prevent the introduction or spread of plant pests into or within the state. The department may conduct the research independently or as part of a cooperative effort involving other entities. The research may include, but need not be limited to, researching the feasibility of controlling or eradicati…
The Legislative Assembly finds and declares that: A plant pest, other than a plant pest possessed or moved in compliance with a permit described in ORS 570.215, is a public nuisance. A plant, crop or agricultural, horticultural or forest commodity or product, that is infested with or harbors a plant pest is a public nuisance. The State Department of Agric…
The Director of Agriculture, and the chief of the division of plant industry, are authorized and directed to use such methods as may be necessary to prevent the introduction into this state of dangerous insects or other plant pests, and to apply methods necessary to prevent the spread, to establish control and to accomplish the eradication of insects or othe…
The Director of Agriculture, and the chief of the division of plant industry, may cooperate with any group of citizens, municipalities and counties in the state, Oregon State University, the extension service, the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, and such agencies as the director designates to carry out the provisions of this section and ORS 57…
It is the special duty of all officers, employees and deputies to whom the duty to act as horticultural inspectors is assigned, to inspect nursery stock, trees, shrubs, plants, fruits, bulbs and vegetables and other articles mentioned in ORS 570.320 to 570.330, coming from points within the state, and to enforce the provisions of ORS 570.320 to 570.330 and a…
The officers, employees and inspectors of the State Department of Agriculture and county inspectors are authorized to collaborate with the United States Department of Agriculture in all matters relating to the inspection of nursery stock, plants, fruits, vegetables, bulbs, seeds or other plant products shipped into this state from foreign countries or from o…
Each carload, case, box, package, crate, bundle, or bale of trees, shrubs, plants, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits, fruit or vegetables imported or brought into this state shall have plainly and legibly marked thereon in a conspicuous manner and place, the name and address of the person, firm or corporation shipping the same and the name an…
No person, firm or corporation owning or operating any nursery, fruit orchard of any kind, hopyards, flower gardens or ornamental trees shall throw any cuttings or prunings or parts of any fruit trees, nursery stock, ornamental trees, or hop vines into any public road, highway, lane, field or other enclosure, or into any watercourse of any kind; but shall de…
Any person, firm or corporation owning or operating a nursery, fruit orchard, hopyard, flower garden or ornamental trees, and knowing the nursery, fruit orchard, hopyard, flower garden or ornamental trees to be infested or infected with any kind of insect or other plant pest that is or may become a menace to horticultural or farm crops, or on being served wi…
A person may not import into this state, transport within this state or sell or offer for sale by displaying in stores, in or at fruit stands, along public highways or in any other manner within this state fruit that is infested with any insect or other plant pest. The fact that any fruit bears the marks of scale, insects or disease or is worm eaten, in exce…
Each person who packs or prepares for shipment to any point within this state, or who delivers or causes to be delivered to any express agent or railroad agent or other person or to any transportation company or corporation for shipment to any point outside of this state, any fresh, cured or dried fruit infected with insects or other plant pests injurious to…
The State Department of Agriculture shall present evidence of violation of any provision of ORS 564.020, 570.010 to 570.050, 570.125, 570.320, 570.335 to 570.355, and 632.490 to the district attorney for the county in which any such violation may occur. Prosecution for such violation may be brought in any of the justice courts of this state.
CONTROL AREAS
The State Department of Agriculture may establish, in accordance with the provisions governing the procedure for the declaring of quarantines contained in ORS 561.510 to 561.590, control areas within this state, if after careful investigation the department determines that the areas are necessary for the general protection of the horticultural, agricultural …
From and after the date an order creating a control area becomes finally effective, no person shall violate, in whole or in part, any provision of such order.
The State Department of Agriculture is authorized to contract with and to receive funds from any person, including but not limited to, any governmental agency, county or municipal corporation, for the purpose of carrying on such work as is necessary in enforcing or carrying out the provisions of a control order. Any unexpended funds paid into the department …
The Director of Agriculture may, at any time the director believes necessary, revoke any order concerning control areas made by the director. The revocation shall become effective upon the director giving notice by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the control area. The director shall also give notice by one or more additional methods that…
The county court or board of county commissioners of each county in which a control area, or any part thereof, has been established for cherry fruit fly control according to ORS 570.405, shall appoint a control area inspector for that county upon the petition of 50 interested persons or 50 percent of the interested persons, whichever is smaller, who are farm…
The control area inspector has access to the land within the control area that is within the county for which the inspector was appointed. In the event an owner or occupant of any land fails or refuses to treat the trees, plants or their produce as provided by the control area order, the inspector shall at once notify the appointing authority of such fact a…
On the completion of the work, the inspector shall file with the county clerk an itemized statement of expenses necessarily incurred in the operation, including the wages of the inspector for time spent therein, both on the preparation and completion of the operation, verified by the oath of the inspector. When such statement is filed, the county clerk shall…
If no objection has been filed, as authorized in ORS 570.430, within 10 days from the date of filing and docketing the lien, the county court or board of county commissioners shall pay out of the general funds of the county to the persons to whom the expenses are owing the amount thereof.
The State Department of Agriculture may establish control areas for the production of rapeseed as provided in ORS 570.405. The department may appoint advisory boards to advise and counsel the department on the boundaries of the control areas, the type of rapeseed species and varieties which may be produced in the various control areas and the enforcement of …
IMPORTED TIMBER PRODUCTS INSPECTION PROGRAM
As used in ORS 570.700 to 570.710: “Bone dry ton” means 2,000 pounds of wood chips dried to zero percent moisture. “Imported” means from any source outside North America and includes those states in Mexico not adjacent to the United States. “Timber products” means any wood product, including, but not limited to, finished lumber, rough cut lumber, cants, l…
The Legislative Assembly finds that imported, untreated timber products increase the hazards of introducing and spreading injurious plant pests and diseases in this state and that the State Department of Agriculture is directed to establish and implement an inspection and control program to safeguard the health of trees and plants in this state. In carrying…
Each person who takes first delivery in this state of imported, untreated timber products on or after July 1, 1995, within one month after taking delivery of such products, shall pay to the State Department of Agriculture a timber products health program fee. The department, by rule, shall establish a fee schedule as follows: For wood chips, a fee of not m…
As used in this section: “Firewood” means whole or split pieces of wood that are: Less than 48 inches in length; and In a form commonly used for burning in campfires, stoves or fireplaces. “Invasive species” has the meaning given that term in ORS 570.755. A person may not transport into or within this state firewood for personal use or sale at, or deliv…
The Legislative Assembly finds and declares that: The land, waters and other natural resources of this state are severely affected by an increasing number of invasions by harmful nonnative species; Invasions by harmful nonnative species are damaging to the environment and cause economic hardship within this state; The Invasive Species Council is a leader …
As used in this section, “invasive species” means nonnative organisms that cause economic or environmental harm and are capable of spreading to new areas of the state. “Invasive species” does not include humans, domestic livestock or nonharmful exotic organisms. The Invasive Species Council shall: Create and maintain appropriate Internet sites, toll-free t…
The Invasive Species Council is established within the State Department of Agriculture. Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the council consists of 22 members, as follows: Eight members are ex officio voting members with terms that do not expire. The ex officio voting members are: The Director of Agriculture, or a designated representativ…
The Invasive Species Council each year shall select a voting member of the council as chairperson and another voting member as vice chairperson. The council by rule shall specify terms and provide appropriate duties and powers for the chairperson and vice chairperson. A majority of the voting members of the council constitutes a quorum for the transaction o…
The Invasive Species Council shall appoint a State Invasive Species Coordinator to serve at the pleasure of the voting members of the council. The State Department of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring payment of the administrative expenses of the council. The State Department of Agriculture may enter into interagency agreements under ORS 190.110 with …
The Invasive Species Council may establish advisory and technical committees that it considers necessary to aid and advise the council in the performance of its functions. The committees may be continuing or temporary committees. The council shall determine the representation, membership, terms and organization of the committees and appoint their members. M…
The Invasive Species Council Account is established in the General Fund of the State Treasury. Except as provided under subsection (2) of this section, all moneys received by the Invasive Species Council shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the account. All moneys in the account are continuously appropriated to the council and may be used by…
As used in this section, “invasive species” has the meaning given that term in ORS 570.755. The Invasive Species Control Account is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Invasive Species Control Account shall be credited to the account. Moneys in the account are continuously appropriated to th…
The Invasive Species Council shall report biennially concerning the activities of the council during the previous two years to an interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to natural resources in the manner provided in ORS 192.245. The report may include other material at the discretion of the council.
PENALTIES
Violation of a provision of ORS 570.010 to 570.050, 570.105 to 570.190, 570.215, 570.320 to 570.360 or 570.410 is a Class A violation.
In addition to any applicable fine under ORS 570.990 or other penalty, a person is subject to imposition by the State Department of Agriculture of a civil penalty, not to exceed $10,000, if the person: Violates a quarantine order issued under ORS 570.115; Violates ORS 570.410; or Fails to timely pay a fee required under ORS 570.710. Each violation of a q…
In addition to any applicable fine under ORS 561.993 or 569.990 or other penalty, a person is subject to imposition by the State Department of Agriculture of a civil penalty, not to exceed $10,000, if the person: Violates a rule adopted under ORS 570.210; or Violates the conditions of a permit described in ORS 570.215. Each violation of a rule adopted und…
Violation of ORS 570.720 or a State Department of Agriculture rule adopted under ORS 570.720 is punishable by a civil penalty, not to exceed $10,000. The imposition of a civil penalty under this section is subject to ORS 183.745. Any civil penalty recovered under this section shall be deposited in the Invasive Species Control Account established under ORS 57…