That's always a touchy issue. This subject was raging over on the CPUK forum as well. In fact I was discussing this today at lunch with a friend. She wanted to know what happened to people who collected plants not realizing they might be federally protected. Most people aren't aware of the laws (what few there are) protecting plants.
There are an awful lot of grey areas. In fact, it seems that not too many people are truly clear on what the permits are, who can get them, what "rank" a plant is labeled ("plant of concern", "endangered", "protected") and what that means. Even law enforcement isn't too up on the matter and aren't they supposed to enforce the laws? Or is it some other agency? How many people TRULY get landowners permission? Who can get a permit? Who monitors all that to make sure the dealer are following all the rules? Ozzy discovered flytrap permits for field collecting costs all of $1...for a year.
It seems to be an area that no one is too clear on.
If a plant is rare but not federally protected...and you know its getting ready to be destroyed by development, then I can understand wanting to rescue it. And it would be a shame if paperwork caused such delay the plant was destroyed in the meantime. It would be great to either propagate it or re-establish it in a safer area. But even if its for personal enjoyment, its better than seeing it destroyed for good. With cypripediums, they take SO long to mature and flower and need such specific conditions to flourish...it would be a shame to see any removed for any reason other than a rescue from certain death.
I think sensitive field collection of seed or plants can be alright if its to get the plant into cultivation to preserve it. But how much and how often? By whom? Who qualifies as being knowledgeable enough to do a "sensitive" collection? What is the size of the population you are collecting from? Does the plant seed easily as is the case with some drosera...or is it a plant like sarracenia that produces less seed, is harder to establish itself and takes a number of years to mature to where it can reproduce. What about plants that nature herself is destroying (fields overrun by brush choking out the plants who need burns to survive). So many factors!
If a population is large...in the thousands, does that make it "more ok" to collect? But again if done too much and too often, it will eventually reduce that population. It is truly a complicated issue.
I am against field collecting for profit. Such as a certain flytrap nursery who makes no bones about taking native field collected CPs to sell and/or propagate for profit.
The flytrap population is too small and isolated for me to think that it is EVER an acceptable thing to do. Considering the entire world, its niche in nature is miniscule.
Other CPs...like in Australia where plants may proliferate by the thousands and they aren't endangered....it still seems wrong to me. If money becomes involved, then the environment will be raped until the plants are no more. There will always be those who care more about making a buck than caring about preservation. And then you can get into issues like logging the dwindling rainforests. A lot of the logging is done by desperately poor natives who have no other way to put food on the table. When your family is starving and you have a choice of feeding your kids or saving a tree...what do you think the choice, understandbly, will be? Its a tough issue. Most don't want to see the destruction of such a beautiful and important ecosystem, but...the conservationists don't live there in desperately poor conditions. How can you fault the natives for trying to survive?
Its a very complicated issue...a lot of variables. But as Tamlin preaches...the more the rare plants can be propagated and spread around, it will take the profit margin out of business or individual who may seek to acquire these plants from the wild to sell. If you can get a petiolaris plant for $3 vs. $30, then why bother to go to the expense of field collecting them. You can take the bang out of the buck by making them more easily obtainable by concerned and caring individuals.
Thankfully scientific advances and better propagation techniques such as TC have helped greatly to protect these beautiful plants. In nature, plants will come and go. But its best if we humans don't hasten their extinction out of greed for the almighty dollar.
Suzanne
