A sample of the licence conditions for a wild harvester licence for whole protected plants. Conditions may be added or removed in specific circumstances.
Licence conditions
- Unless stated otherwise, words and expressions used in this licence have the same meaning as those set out in the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
- Under section 2.14 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act, it is an offence to contravene or fail to comply with a condition of this licence.
- In this licence:
- ‘licensee’ means the person named as the licensee and persons working on behalf of the licensee
- ‘the department’ means the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- ‘NPWS’ means the National Parks and Wildlife Service
- ‘WPMP’ means “Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–27: protected and threatened plants in the cut-flower industry”.
- ‘authorised officer’ means an officer of the department.
General
- The licensee may only harvest whole plants from the species specified on this licence.
- The licensee may only harvest the quantities of whole plants specified on this licence.
- The licensee may only harvest whole plants species from the land specified on this licence.
- It is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm the identification of the species that they intend to harvest. PlantNet NSW Flora Online (the plant information network Royal Botanic Gardens) can assist; but where this is in doubt the species should be formally identified through a recognised authority such as the NSW Herbarium.
- The licensee must comply with all licence requirements documented in the Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027, as amended or replaced from time to time.
- The licensee must produce the licence to any authorised officer or owner, occupier or lessee of the land specified on this licence; as required.
- The licensee shall produce the licence to all who buy or receive plants from this licence.
- Where the licensee has a retail or wholesale outlet, a copy of the licence must be available on request by an authorised officer. It is recommended the licence be displayed at the point of sale
- Receipts and records for plant part sales must be kept for the period of this licence. The licensee will make these receipts available for inspection upon request by an authorised officer.
- Any place where plant parts are to be picked, stored or processed are to be made available for inspection on request by an authorised officer.
Plant tags
- NPWS plant tags are required for all wild harvest plants. Licensees must apply to the NPWS local office for plant tags for the amount specified in this licence only.
- In accordance with the conditions with the Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027, plant tags must:
- be permanently attached to the flower plant product
- state they ‘wild harvested
- have description of plant origin or species
- scientific name of species
- have a unique tag number.
- NPWS plant tags are not transferable and must be used in association with the license number only.
- Plant parts that require tagging must be tagged on the land specified and described on the licence prior to being transported.
Sustainable management
- Whole plant harvesting, collection, processing and use should be undertaken using best-practice standards and must not impact the viability of the individual plants or populations or adversely affect the long-term survival of the source individual plant or population, specifically:
- unless precise information about the safe collecting limits for a species are known, a collection limit of a maximum of 10% of the available population of approved size classes for group 1
- unless precise information about the sustainable harvesting limits for a species is known, a collection limit of a maximum 1% of the available population of approved size classes for group 2 species
- harvesting should occur over as wide an area as possible
- collection methods must be conducted in a manner that minimises damage to all target and non-target plant species.
- Collecting any other regenerative plant material that can be used in cultivation is not permitted under a wild harvest licence.
Monitoring
- The licensee must establish a program/s to monitor harvest sustainability which may include:
- establishing fixed photographic monitoring points over representative sections of the harvest site/s
- an accurate map (+/- 10 m) with geographical coordinates of harvest sites and monitoring plots
- photographs taken immediately before and after picking at each site
- detailed description of species and numbers of plants before and the harvest operation.
Record keeping
- The monitoring program/plots/photographs must be provided to the NPWS local office no later than 28 days at the completion of the harvest operation and/or upon the expiration of the licence.
- No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until monitoring conditions have been fulfilled and a report provided.
- Harvest return records are to be submitted yearly. The licensee shall forward to the NPWS local office annual harvest records on the form provided no later than 28 days after the anniversary date of the licence.
- No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until all the harvest returns have been submitted.
Indemnity
- The licensee agrees to indemnify, and keep indemnified, the Crown in right of NSW (the department), the NSW Minister administering the Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Environment Agency Head of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and their employees, agents and contractors, in the absence of any wilful misconduct or negligence on their part, from and against all actions, demands, claims, proceedings, losses, damages, costs (including legal costs), charges or expenses suffered or incurred by them resulting from:
- any damage or destruction to any real or personal property
- injury suffered or sustained (including death) by any persons arising out of or in connection with the activities undertaken pursuant to this licence.