The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship released three Iowa poultry sites from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) quarantine restrictions.  The restrictions prohibited the movement of poultry and poultry products on or off the affected premises and were lifted on May 16 after these sites were cleared from HPAI.  Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says, “This is a notable step forward in our state’s collaborative response to avian influenza, but our work is not done.”  Naig says, “I am extremely proud of our ability to move quickly to implement our response plans that minimize virus spread, protect the health of Iowa’s poultry flocks and ensure farmers can continue farming.  Moving forward, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, along with the USDA, producers and other industry stakeholders will continue efforts to effectively manage this outbreak.” The sites released from quarantine include: a commercial pullet site in Franklin County, a commercial turkey site in Hamilton County and a site of commercial breeding chickens in Humboldt County, Iowa.  Quarantines will be lifted on remaining sites as requirements for release ar met.  These requirements include, but are not limited to, cleaning, disinfection and environmental sampling of the infected premises.