Most of Santa Rosa soon will come under an expanded quarantine area for the light brown apple moth after recent discoveries of the invasive pest.

The quarantine will have little effect on city residents, except that by law they are prohibited from taking home-grown fruit, vegetables and other plant materials outside the area.

But the changed boundaries suggests the moth, a native of Australia, continues to expand into the North Bay. In winter the pest normally goes dormant, but 10 moths were trapped in the county in December and another 14 to date this month, said Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Neville.

The expanded quarantine area is expected to be confirmed by the state within the next two weeks, county officials said. Its boundaries will reach from the outskirts of Forestville in the north to the Marin County line in the south and from west of Petaluma to Napa County. In the Sonoma Valley, the quarantine will extend north almost to Glen Ellen.

Another quarantine area exists around Healdsburg.

State and federal agricultural officials first confirmed the existence of the moth in California three years ago.

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