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Laws Protecting Endangered Plants

Endangered species are species of plants or animals with dwindling populations that face the threat of extinction. According to the US Forest Service, there are some 8,840 species of rare plants in the United States, 764 of which are currently classified as endangered. Many of the legal regulations that protect endangered animals protect endangered plants as well.

  1. CITES

    • The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement that regulates trade in endangered species of plants or animals. The United States, along with 168 other nations, participate in CITES. Trade in plants threatened with extinction is prohibited under CITES; trade in species that are not currently threatened with extinction but could become threatened is strictly regulated. CITES makes provision for a few exceptions such as scientific research.

    Endangered Species Act (ESA)

    • Passed in 1973, the ESA protects all plants designated as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Trade in endangered plants is prohibited, as is commercial exploitation; the ESA also forbids collecting or destroying endangered plants on federal lands. The provisions for plants are similar to those that govern the protection of endangered animals, albeit with one key exception. The ESA does not permit private property owners to collect or take endangered animals, regardless of where they do so, but it does permit private property owners to collect or take endangered plants on their own land. According to the US Forest Service, the distinction stems from a tradition in U.S. and English common law that considered plants as part of the land rather than as public property.

    State Regulations

    • According to the US Forest Service, 15 states have laws that protect endangered plants under the same heading as endangered animals, while 17 states have separate laws applicable specifically to endangered plants. Just as with the Endangered Species Act, protection for endangered plants on private lands is absent or minimal; these statutes, however, protect endangered plants on state lands, although penalties for violation are usually fairly minimal.

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