The California Department of Food and Agriculture has expanded the Coastside quarantine boundaries for the Light Brown Apple Moth in response to data showing new pockets of the agricultural pest.

For the Coastside, the new quarantine boundaries have expanded farther north, now encompassing Miramar and El Granada. The expansion also connects the quarantine with the Bayside along the Highway 92 corridor.

"Basically we had some additional moth finds that pushed the boundaries northward," said Gail Raabe, San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner. "It means the same thing we've had going since April 2007. We're keeping the plan ... (to) make sure we aren't spreading this." Raabe said residents in the quarantined areas need to avoid transporting plant material - such as cut flowers, fruit or yard waste - into the other areas of Northern California. That plant material could contain moth caterpillars, she said, so a Coastsider doing something as benign as bringing flowers to a loved one in San Carlos, could actually be spreading a destructive agricultural pest.