> Chris Teichreb mentioned, re selling endangered species legally, that
> some states have special legal requirements and that "N. Carolina is
> extremely stringent in regards to even owning species such as S.
> oreophila." As one of the two people in N.C. responsible for
> rare-plant regulation, I'm delighted that we have such a reputation
> but a bit worried that people will be scared off from facing our
> "extremely stringent" requirements and will go underground with their
> S. oreophila or S. rubra ssp jonesii or whatever. So please don't.
> N.C.'s only concern, like the federal ESA, is that the plants aren't
> collected from the wild. So we've set up a paperwork system to
> document that. We require people who own endangered or threatened
> plants to have a permit stating the source of the plants. That's it
> -- no cost, very little paperwork, and so long as the source is
> legitimate (not from a wild population), we don't withhold any permit,
> nor swoop down on anyone & confiscate their plants. (We have on
> occasion swooped down on outlaw ginseng traders. And VFT poachers.
> But that's another story.)
First off, thanks for the response. It's nice when we on the
group here from the actual 'officials' on what the rules are regarding
trading and possessing endangered species. When I said extremely
stringent, I didn't mean for it to sound like you went around doing
random raids of households to check for permits or illegal plants. I
also didn't mean to imply that you _couldn't_ possess these plants, just
that you had to be aware of the regulations. In many states and in my
own area, they don't require any permits for possessing endangered
plants. Whether this is a good thing or not is in the eye of the
beholder. I personally feel, that if these documents are easy to obtain,
that it is indeed another way of protecting a fastly diminishing population.
>
> Anyone selling S. oreophila or S. r. ssp jonesii or any other listed
> species, or even giving plants away, really should provide some kind
> of documentation to the buyer (like, a receipt!). N.C. has a tag
> system for sellers of endangered species; when they sell their plants,
> the buyer in turn has documentation and, more importantly, is educated
> about the rarity of the species and the fact that there is some legal
> concern for rare native plants. ("Oh," people say over & over, "I
> didn't know PLANTS could be endangered.")
So I guess that answers Barry's question on whether providing a
certificate stating that the plant was greenhouse raised is sufficient.
>
> You can check out N.C. rules on the Web, thanks to Barry, at
> www.indirect.com/www/bazza/cps/faq/ncreg.html
> or e-mail me or give me or my boss Cecil Frost a call at (919)
> 733-3610 if you have any questions/comments.
>
> Marj Boyer, your friendly N.C. Ginseng Coordinator
> Plant Conservation Program
> NC Dept. of Agriculture
>
Thanks for the information. Again, forgive me if I made your
regulations sound like 'you better have permits or else you'll never see
the light of day again'. It was just to make people aware that states
and countries do vary in their regulations regarding endangered plants.
Chris Teichreb
Department of Biology
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, CANADA