Updates to Compendium Volume 1: Limiting Allowable Pest Control Associated with Tree Surgery and Woodcutting Activities

This letter announces the availability of, and summarizes updates and revisions to, Volume 1, General Administration of the Pesticide Use Enforcement Program, one of the volumes of the Pesticide Use Enforcement Program Standards Compendium. Updates are enclosed and will also be available online. Please have your staff begin using the updates as soon as possible.

A woodcutter, logger, tree surgeon, arborist, or others may only apply certain pesticides to trees as part of their operations without a Pest Control Business (PCB) license. Food and Agricultural Code (FAC) section 11710 provides a PCB licensing exemption for those regularly engaged in the business of tree surgery to remove of diseased or infested tissues and apply disinfectants to wounds or cavities incidental to tree surgery. All persons advertising, soliciting, or operating as a business applying non-disinfectant pesticides (such as herbicides, insecticides, or fungicides) to trees or stumps require a PCB license from the Department even if such pest control is incidental to the person’s main woodcutting, logging, tree surgery, or arborist operations.

This update supersedes previous guidance on the subject and aligns the guidance in Volume 1 with the text of FAC section 11710. In addition, the updated pages address the changes to FAC section 11531 due to Assembly Bill 2113 (Chapter 60, Statutes of 2024).

If you have any questions, please contact the Enforcement Branch Liaison assigned to your county.

Sincerely,