New York State Protected Plants List: Tiers, Rules, and Penalties

New York’s protected native plants list is set by the Department of Environmental Conservation under Environmental Conservation Law § 9-1503 and 6 NYCRR Part 193.3, which together sort hundreds of native species into four tiers: endangered, threatened, rare, and exploitably vulnerable. Picking, digging, damaging, or carrying away any plant on any of these lists without the landowner’s consent is illegal, though the base state fine is only $25. Separate and much stricter rules apply on state-owned land, in freshwater wetland buffers, and to American ginseng.¹

The Four Protection Tiers

A plant only has to meet one of the biological thresholds below to land in a given tier. All four tiers carry the same legal prohibition on collection, but they signal different levels of concern to DEC and drive different management priorities.

Endangered. Plants in danger of disappearing from New York. A species qualifies with five or fewer known sites in the state, fewer than 1,000 individuals, presence on fewer than four USGS topographic maps, or a federal endangered listing. The Hart’s-tongue fern is one well-known example, surviving at only a handful of locations in central New York.²
Threatened. Species likely to become endangered if conditions don’t improve: 6 to fewer than 20 known sites, 1,000 to fewer than 3,000 individuals, presence on four to seven USGS maps, or a federal threatened listing.³
Rare. Small but not yet critical populations: 20 to 35 known sites, or 3,000 to 5,000 individuals statewide.²
Exploitably vulnerable. Plants likely to become threatened if collection continues. The Pink Lady’s Slipper is the most recognizable species in this tier, frequently targeted by hobbyist collectors drawn to its showy flower.²

The full species-by-species lists sit in 6 NYCRR Part 193.3 and are also tracked by the New York Natural Heritage Program, which publishes an updated rare plant status list drawn from the state database.⁴

What The Law Forbids

ECL § 9-1503 makes it illegal to knowingly pick, remove, damage with herbicides, or carry away any listed plant without the consent of the property owner. That covers the whole range of ways a plant can be harmed in the wild, from pulling it up by the roots to spraying a protected area with chemicals.¹

The state penalty is modest. A violation of § 9-1503 carries a maximum fine of $25, an amount that hasn’t been updated in decades.¹ The real enforcement exposure usually comes from other directions: trespass charges for entering land without permission, separate state land regulations with their own penalties, and the federal Endangered Species Act for the smaller number of plants that carry dual state and federal listings.

The phrase “without the consent of the owner” is doing significant work. A landowner is free to remove protected plants from their own property, and someone with the owner’s permission can do the same. The restriction targets people who collect, pick, or damage listed species on land they don’t own.⁵

Where The Rules Get Stricter

State-Owned Land

On state land the rules go well beyond ECL § 9-1503. A separate DEC regulation prohibits removing, destroying, or injuring any tree, flower, shrub, fern, fungus, moss, or other plant growing on state land, whether or not the species appears on a protected list. The only carve-outs are collection for personal consumption and collection under a permit from the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation and the Commissioner of Education.⁶ This applies across Adirondack Park, Catskill Park, state forests, and other DEC-managed lands. Picking berries or gathering mushrooms for your own use fits within the personal consumption exception; digging up a protected plant to transplant into your garden does not.

Private Property You Own

A landowner can legally manage, remove, or destroy protected plants on their own property. ECL § 9-1503 only restricts taking without the consent of the owner, so it does not bind the owner.¹ Anyone else who wants to collect from private land needs clear permission. Without it, the act is a violation of state environmental law and can also support a trespass claim.

Freshwater Wetland Buffers

Owning the land isn’t always enough. Property near a mapped wetland falls under the DEC’s Freshwater Wetlands Regulatory Program, which protects wetlands of at least 12.4 acres (plus smaller wetlands that meet one of eleven “Unusual Importance” criteria) and a regulated buffer extending 100 feet from the wetland boundary. Around especially sensitive wetlands like nutrient-poor bogs or productive vernal pools, the buffer can be larger.⁷ Clearing vegetation or otherwise disturbing plant life inside these zones typically requires a DEC permit, even on your own land.

American Ginseng Is Regulated Separately

American ginseng sits inside ECL § 9-1503 but has its own regime because of its commercial value and its status under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. DEC has authority to regulate ginseng harvesting, collection, sale, and export,¹ and the detailed harvest rules in 6 NYCRR Parts 193.4 through 193.8 are far more prescriptive than the general protected-plant provisions:

Wild ginseng may only be collected between September 1 and November 30.
Plants must be at least five years old. Age is read from the stem scars on the rhizome; a five-year-old plant has four scars.
You cannot collect any plant with green, unripe fruit or immature seeds.⁸

When Federal Penalties Also Apply

A smaller subset of New York’s protected plants is also listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and for those species federal penalties stack on top of the state fine. A knowing ESA violation can bring a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per incident, and criminal violations reach fines of up to $50,000 and up to one year in prison. Even an unknowing violation of a major ESA provision can trigger a $500 civil penalty, and federal authorities can seize the plants and any equipment used.⁹ You can check whether a specific New York species is also federally listed through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Conservation Online System. The dual-listed plants tend to be the most critically imperiled, and that’s where a casual encounter with a wildflower can carry real legal exposure.

Reporting A Rare Plant You’ve Found

If you spot what you believe is a rare or protected species, the New York Natural Heritage Program tracks these populations and accepts sightings through an online reporting form at nynhp.org/report-rare.⁴ Those reports feed the state database, help DEC prioritize habitat protection, and flag areas where development proposals might collide with sensitive plant populations.

1
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law 9-1503 – Removal of Protected Plants
2
Legal Information Institute. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 6 193.3 – Protected Native Plants
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 6 CRR-NY 193.3 – Protected Native Plants
4
New York Natural Heritage Program. New York Rare Plant Status Lists
5
NY State Department of Environmental Conservation. State Protected Plants
6
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 6 CRR-NY – State Land Regulations
7
NY State Department of Environmental Conservation. Freshwater Wetlands Permits
8
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 6 CRR-NY 193.4 through 193.8 – Ginseng Harvest Regulations
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 16 Section 1540 – Penalties and Enforcement