You need a biodiversity conservation licence granted under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) to pick or cultivate protected plant species for cut flowers and foliage for commercial purposes.
No matter what licence you’re applying for, you’ll need to read and be sure you can comply with the conditions of your licence. It is an offence under the Biodiversity Conservation Act to breach a condition of a licence.
Licence requirements
Protected plant species that require a licence to be picked or cultivated as cut flowers or foliage are listed in Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The species listed in Part 1 of Schedule 6 are divided into 4 groups. These groups have different licensing, tagging and monitoring requirements.
Detailed information about licensing requirements for the commercial cut flower industry is included in the Cut-flower sustainable management plan 2023–27.
Get the right licence
The type of licence you need to harvest or cultivate protected plants for cut flowers and foliage for commercial purposes depends on where and what you intend to harvest. Answer these 2 questions to help work out which type of licence you need.
1. Do the cut-flowers or plant foliage you intend to harvest for sale come from naturally occurring wild plants or propagated/cultivated stock?
| Answer | Licence |
|---|---|
| (a) Naturally occurring wild plants | See Question 2 |
| (b) Plants I have grown from seed, cuttings, nursery stock, or other non-wild sources and have established as an orchard/crop | Grower licence |
2. Do you intend to harvest wild plants from land you own or is the land owned by someone else?
| Answer | Licence |
|---|---|
| (a) The land is owned by me | Wild harvester licence |
| (b) The land is not owned by me | From 1 January 2018, licences to harvest are only issued to land owners |
| (c) The land is not owned by me and is state forest and I wish to harvest only from species in Groups 1 or 2 of Part 1, Schedule 6 of the BC Act | BC Act licence not required, apply for a Forest Products Licence from Forestry Corporation of NSW |
Types of licences
There are 2 types of licence classes that authorise harvesting, cultivation and commercial use of cut flowers and foliage:
- Wild harvester licence
- Grower licence.
Each licence type has different conditions, tagging, monitoring and record keeping requirements.
Licence application fees vary depending on the costs to assess, regulate and monitor licensed activities.
If you are undertaking multiple activities you will need the relevant licence for each activity. If you plan to carry out multiple activities at the same location, it's likely you will pay a single licence fee based on the activity with the highest fee. The fee will be that of the shortest-term licence.
This licence allows you to pick cut-flower and foliage of protected plants for commercial purposes from naturally occurring stands on property you own.
Plants you can pick
A wild harvester licence allows you to pick plant species from Groups 1, 2 and 3 listed in Part 1 of Schedule 6.
This licence does not allow you to pick species listed in Group 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 6 or threatened species listed under Schedules 1 or 2 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Monitoring
As a wild harvester licence holder, you must establish monitoring plots to help you monitor harvest sustainability and provide harvest data to your local NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service area office.
Monitoring of species in all groups is required and may be done through the provision of accurate geographical coordinates or establishment of a fixed photographic monitoring point.
Evidence of your monitoring program must be submitted to your local NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service area office, upon completion of the harvesting operation and/or upon the expiration of your licence.
Tagging
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service tags are required for Group 3 species.
Find out more about tagging how to apply for NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service tags
Record keeping
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is required to provide an annual protected plant harvest report to the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the ensure the commercial use of protected plant is managed sustainably.
You will need to complete a Harvest Return Sheet (DOCX 197KB) annually, with information for each day of harvesting. This must include:
- date and site of the harvest
- number of plant parts harvested
- tag numbers allocated to plants from the site (if applicable)
- other relevant comments, including product-specific requirements.
Annual harvest returns must be submitted annually in an electronic format to your local NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service area office.
Harvest return sheets must be made available for inspection on request and must be submitted annually in an electronic format. No new licences will be granted until all harvest returns are submitted.
Conditions
Licences include binding conditions; it’s important you understand and meet the Wild Harvester (Cut Flower) Licence Conditions.
Licence cost and duration
- $75 for 1 year, including site inspection
- $50 for renewal, including site inspection
- $30 for renewal, site inspection not required.
Apply
Licence applications are currently not available online. Contact your local NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for an application form, to submit your application and to obtain further advice.
Applications will be subject to site inspections to verify the availability of species.
Please allow enough time for your application to be assessed. You will be contacted if further information is needed to complete the assessment.
Harvesting species in Groups 1 and 2 will continue to be permitted in state forests under a forest products licence granted by the Forestry Corporation of NSW, but a Biodiversity Conservation Act licence is not required.
This licence allows you to grow, cultivate and propagate protected and threatened plants for commercial use.
You must be able to demonstrate the primary source of the plant or seed material has been lawfully obtained under another type of plant licence, scientific licence, threatened species licence or other exemption under the Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The plants must be propagated from artificially cultivated stock and grown on land you own or occupy.
Plants you can grow
A grower licence allows you to grow all species of protected plants listed in Part 1 of Schedule 6 and threatened species, as long as the source of the plant material can be legally identified.
Tagging
- Grower tags are required for species in Group 4, and are recommended for species in Groups 1, 2 and 3. Grower tags should include ‘plantation grown’ wording.
- NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service tags are compulsory for Group 3 species.
- NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service tags may also be purchased where growers are unable to produce their own grower tags.
- Find out more about tagging and how to apply for NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service tags.
Record keeping
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is required to provide an annual protected plant harvest report to the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the ensure the commercial use of protected plant is managed sustainably.
You will need to complete the Harvester/Grower Annual Return Harvest Return Sheet (DOC 197KB) annually, with information for each day of harvesting. This must include:
- the date and site of the harvest
- the number of plants harvested (and their relevant size classes, if appropriate)
- the tag numbers allocated to the plants from the site.
Annual harvest returns must be submitted annually in an electronic format to your local NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service office.
Harvest return sheets must be made available for inspection on request.
Licensees must also maintain records of plants at the stockpile site which detail the location of harvest and the time since harvest.
No new licences will be granted until all return sheets are submitted.
Conditions
Licences include binding conditions; it’s important you understand and meet the Grower Licence Conditions.
Licence cost and duration
- $30 for 1 year
- $75 for 3 years
- $100 for 5 years.
Apply
Licence applications are currently not available online. Contact your local National Parks and Wildlife Service Office for an application form, to submit your application and to obtain further advice.
Applications will be subject to site inspections to verify the availability of species.
Please allow enough time for your application to be assessed. You will be contacted if further information is needed to complete the assessment.
Cut-flower licences and species groups
| Licence type | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State forest exemption | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Wild Harvester Licence | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Grower Licence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Harvest returns | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NPWS tags | No | No | Yes | No, unless grower unable to produce tag |
| Grower tags | N/A1 | N/A1 | N/A1 | Yes, not required for waratahs |
| Example species |
|
|
|
|
1 The use of grower tags is encouraged for all grower-produced material.
Tagging
Tagging enables the origin of protected plant cut flowers to be traced to a licensed harvester or grower. Tags also help consumers choose between bush-picked and cultivated plants.
Under the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 it is an offence to breach a requirement of a licence to attach tags to a protected plant.
National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) tags are required for cut flowers and foliage from all Group 3 species (Part 1 of Schedule 6), whether acquired from the wild or cultivated sources.
NPWS tags are produced by NPWS and are prefixed and numbered so the origin of cut flowers or foliage from protected plants can be traced.
Apply for NPWS tags
NPWS tags cost 20 cents each.
Find your local NPWS area office to apply for NPWS tags or obtain further advice on tagging.
Grower tags are required for all Group 4 (Part 1 of Schedule 6) plant species except waratahs and are recommended for all species produced under grower licences.
Grower tags are printed or written by the grower or a professional industry association. The tags must be made of durable material and provide enough information to trace the product to its origin. Suggested details include species botanical name, the term ‘plantation grown’ and the name of the supplier.
Threatened species
Threatened species and plants from threatened ecological communities, as listed in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the BC Act or the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 must not be harvested from the wild for commercial use. This means you cannot harvest these species under a wild harvester licence.
Threatened species may be harvested from plantation grown (cultivated) plants under a grower licence. In this case applicants must be able to demonstrate that the parent (source/founder) material has been legally acquired.
The picking and cultivation of protected and threatened plant species for research or conservation purposes requires a scientific licence.
Definitions
- Picking a plant includes to gather, take, cut, remove from the ground, destroy, poison, crush or injure the plant or any part of the plant.
- A site is defined as a single property held under individual title, or a specific parcel of land managed by a public authority. For example, each state forest is considered a separate property/site.