A call to a state tip line drew confirmation of the first-ever find of Asian citrus psyllids in the northern California community of Lincoln.

According to Ed King, Placer County deputy agriculture commissioner, the live psyllids were found in non-commercial citrus in two adjoining yards after a homeowner contacted the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s hotline. Inspectors were immediately sent to take samples of the pest and confirm their identity.

The trees were treated by the CDFA, then removed, and destroyed at the homeowner's request.

Psyllids were also tested for the bacteria that cause Huanglongbing (HLB). Those tests were negative for the disease, King says.

As per state protocols, delimitation trapping will take place within 1.5 miles of the find and a state quarantine will likely be established in the area, which will encompass most of Lincoln, a portion of Rocklin and a part of unincorporated Placer County.

This is find is significant since Placer County is now the northernmost location in California to have confirmed discoveries of the ACP, which is known to vector HLB.

Placer County has a small but thriving commercial mandarin industry with about 200 acres of mandarins valued at over $1.6 million growing in the foothill region around Newcastle and Auburn.

The latest ACP finds were not close to commercial citrus groves, King says.