CHAPTER 217-A NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIVE PLANT PROTECTION
Section 217-A:3
217-A:3 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "Commercial" means all types of activities, uses, and purposes of an industrial or trade nature including, but not limited to, the buying and selling or barter and exchange of commodities and activities conducted for the purpose of such buying and selling or barter and exchange.
II. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of natural and cultural resources.
III. "Department" means the department of natural and cultural resources.
IV. "Endangered species" means any species of plant that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the state, or any species determined to be an endangered species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act.
V. "Endangered Species Act" means the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Public Law 93-205, as amended.
VI. "Environmental review" means a natural heritage bureau review of potential impacts to protected species and exemplary natural community occurrences to enable planning, permitting, and funding.
VII. "Exemplary natural community" means a viable occurrence of a rare natural community type or a high quality example of a more common natural community type as designated by the natural heritage bureau based on community size, ecological condition, and landscape context.
VIII. "Fee" means a fee to cover the cost of services rendered or the cost of producing and providing publications and reports.
IX. "Natural area" means an area that is relatively unaffected by human activity and which contains plants, wildlife, natural communities, geological features, or scenic values of state, regional, national, or global significance.
X. "Natural Areas Council" means an association of representatives from state agencies and private conservation groups who meet every other month, or as often as necessary, to exchange information and discuss protection priorities for natural areas in New Hampshire. The administrator of the natural heritage bureau shall be a member and act as chairperson. Member organizations shall include:
(a) The division of parks and recreation.
(b) The fish and game department.
(c) The office of planning and development.
(d) The department of agriculture, markets, and food.
(e) The water resources council.
(f) The university of New Hampshire department of plant biology.
(g) The Audubon Society of New Hampshire.
(h) The New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions.
(i) The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
(j) The Nature Conservancy.
(k) The New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association.
(l) The U.S. Forest Service.
(m) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
(n) The New Hampshire Association of Natural Resource Scientists.
XI. "Natural community" means a recurring assemblage of plants and animals found in a particular physical environment.
XII. "Natural heritage bureau" means the bureau, administered within the division of forests and lands of the department of natural and cultural resources which collects and analyzes data on the status, location, and distribution of native plant species and natural communities in the state, and develops and implements measures for the protection, conservation, enhancement, and management of native New Hampshire plants.
XIII. "Natural heritage inventory" means the list of protected species developed in accordance with RSA 217-A:5, I and II.
XIV. "Person" means an individual, corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership, joint stock company, or any department or instrumentality of the federal government, of any state or its political subdivisions, or of any foreign government.
XV. "Plant" means any member of the plant kingdom, including seeds, roots, and other parts of plants.
XVI. "Protect" and "protection" means to use and the use of all methods and procedures that are necessary to bring any species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this chapter are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition, and maintenance.
XVII. "Protected species" and "listed species" means any plant species designated as endangered or threatened under this chapter.
XVIII. "Species" includes any species, subspecies, or variety of plant.
XIX. "Take" means to pick, collect, cut, transplant, uproot, dig, remove, damage, destroy, trample, kill, or otherwise disturb, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
XX. "Threatened species" means any species of plant likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the state, or any species of plant determined to be a threatened species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act.