Chapter 5. Harvesting Of Native Plants of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 23. >> Chapter 5.

(a) Except as provided in this division, it is unlawful for any person to destroy, dig up, mutilate, or harvest any living native plant, or the living or dead parts of any native plant, except its fruit, without obtaining written permission from the landowner and a permit and any required wood receipts or tags and seals.
  (b) It is unlawful for any person to falsify any paper or document issued to give permission for any person to harvest a native plant specified in Section 80073, or to fail to comply with all of the conditions or stipulations of the permit.

The commissioner of the county wherein the plants are located may issue a permit to a scientific or educational institution to harvest a definite number of plants listed in Section 80072 for scientific or educational purposes, if permission is obtained from the landowner on whose property the plants are located.

Permits issued for the removal of native plants shall be valid only for a stated period of time to allow the permittee to remove the specific amount of plants or wood stated in the permit, or the period of time stated by the landowner as part of the landowner' s permission, whichever is shorter, but in no case for more than one year. It is the intent of the Legislature that each permit or wood receipt shall be valid for the least period of time possible in which to accomplish the authorized purpose.

No person shall knowingly make any false statement on any application for permits, wood receipts, or tags and seals. The application shall contain all of the following information:
  (a) The name, address, and telephone number of the applicant.
  (b) The amount and species of native plants to be transported.
  (c) The name of the county from which the native plants are to be removed.
  (d) A description sufficient to identify the real property from which the native plants are to be removed, and such other information or documents as the issuing agency may require to identify the general boundaries of the property.
  (e) The name, address, and telephone number of each landowner from whose property the native plants are to be removed.
  (f) The applicant's timber operator permit number, if the harvesting of the native plants is subject to the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code).
  (g) The proposed date or dates of the transportation.
  (h) The location of the office of the peace officer who will validate the tag or tags.
  (i) The destination of the native plants.
  (j) The ultimate use of the native plants, such as for use as landscaping or decorative material, or for use as a raw material in the manufacture or processing of a product.
  (k) Make, model, and license number of the transportation vehicle.
  (l) Such other information as may be required by the agency issuing the permit. Every applicant shall, at the time of making the application, show his or her proof of ownership of the native plants. The application forms, tags, seals, and wood receipts shall be produced by the department, and distributed to the commissioner of each county subject to Section 80003.

Any permit issued pursuant to Section 80111, 80112, 80113, or 80114 shall expire when the tags and seals issued therewith have been attached to the plants covered by the permit and the plants are no longer in the possession of the permittee.

The director or commissioner may establish specific cutting, harvesting, and plant care criteria which shall include the most favorable and practical horticultural methods and seasons to assure the survivability of the plants and to assure compliance with existing local, state, and federal regulations.

This division does not prevent any of the following:
  (a) The clearing of land for agricultural purposes, fire control measures, or required mining assessment work pursuant to federal or state mining laws.
  (b) The holding of a recreational event sanctioned by the Bureau of Land Management.
  (c) The clearing or removal of native plants from a canal, lateral ditch, survey line, building site, or road or other right-of-way by the landowner or his or her agent, if the native plants are not to be transported from the land or offered for sale and if the commissioner is given at least 10 days' notice of any such activity. This division does not apply to a public agency or to a publicly or privately owned public utility when acting in the performance of its obligation to provide service to the public. This section does not prevent the landowner or his or her agent from complying with any other federal, state, or local laws or regulations. The commissioner may exempt the use of dead and down wood for camping or branding fires from the requirements of this division.

Except as provided in Section 80072, no provision of this division prohibits any person from harvesting or possessing, for purposes other than resale, five or fewer native plants or from cutting, removing, harvesting, transporting, or possessing, for purposes other than resale, any dead mesquite or palo verde in amounts less than one cord, from land owned by the person, or from land leased by the person when the landowner's written permission to harvest has been obtained and is exhibited, or from land not owned by the person when the person exhibits written permission to harvest from the landowner. The written permission shall not be valid unless it includes a description of the land satisfying the requirements of Section 80114 and the address and telephone number of the landowner. Persons harvesting five or fewer native plants, for purposes other than resale, and persons cutting, removing, harvesting, transporting, or possessing any dead mesquite or palo verde, for purposes other than resale, in amounts less than one cord shall not be required to obtain and exhibit any permits, tags and seals, or wood receipts. Persons possessing six or more harvested native plants shall obtain and exhibit a tag and seal for the sixth native plant and for each additional native plant in his or her possession.

Each county may enact ordinances not inconsistent with this division to control commercial harvesting in that county.

The issuing agency shall collect fees for the issuance of permits, tags and seals and wood receipts under this division, except from a landowner moving native plants from one of his or her properties to another, if the plants are not to be offered for sale.

Any harvested native plant listed in Section 80072 or 80073, or added by the director pursuant to Section 80074, which is not exempt from the permit requirements of this division pursuant to Section 80118, found without a tag and seal securely and properly affixed thereto or for which the owner does not exhibit a tag and seal, or any mesquite or palo verde wood in the amount of one cord or more found in the possession of a person without a wood receipt, may be confiscated as evidence of a violation.