§ 106-202.12. Definitions.

Article 19B.

Plant Protection and Conservation Act.

§ 106‑202.12.  Definitions.

As used in this Article, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1)        "Board" means the North Carolina PlantConservation Board as provided in this Article.

(2)        "Commissioner" means the Commissioner ofAgriculture.

(3)        "Conserve" and "conservation" mean touse, and the use of, all methods and procedures for the purposes of increasingthe number of individuals of resident species of plants up to adequate levelsto assure their continuity in their ecosystems. These methods and proceduresinclude all activities associated with scientific resource conservation such asresearch, census, law enforcement, habitat protection, acquisition andmaintenance, propagation, and transplantation into unoccupied parts of historicrange. With respect to endangered and threatened species, the terms mean touse, and the use of, methods and procedures to bring any endangered orthreatened species to the point at which the measures provided for the speciesare no longer necessary.

(4)        "Endangered species" means any species or highertaxon of plant whose continued existence as a viable component of the State'sflora is determined to be in jeopardy by the Board; also, any species of plantdetermined to be an "endangered species" pursuant to the EndangeredSpecies Act.

(5)        "Endangered Species Act" means the EndangeredSpecies Act of 1973, Public Law 93‑205 (87 Stat. 884), as it may besubsequently amended.

(6)        "Exotic species" means a species or higher taxonof plant not native or naturalized in North Carolina but appearing in theFederal Endangered and Threatened Species List or in the appendices to theInternational Treaty on Endangered and Threatened Species.

(7)        "Plant" means any member of the plant kingdom,including seeds, roots and other parts or their propagules.

(8)        "Protected plant" means a species or higher taxonof plant adopted by the Board to protect, conserve, and/or enhance the plantspecies and includes those the Board has designated as endangered, threatened,or of special concern.

(9)        "Resident plant or resident species" means anative species or higher taxon of plant growing in North Carolina.

(10)      "Scientific committee" means the North CarolinaPlant Conservation Scientific Committee.

(11)      "Special concern species" means any species ofplant in North Carolina which requires monitoring but which may be collectedand sold under regulations adopted under the provisions of this Article.

(12)      "Threatened species" means any resident species ofplant which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeablefuture throughout all or a significant portion of its range, or one that isdesignated as threatened by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service. (1979, c. 964, s. 1.)