Note that this flatly contradicts what every other (Wasatch) forest service employee has ever told me, so if you are planning to do much foraging, you may want to be equipped with information about what you are really allowed to do. On the other hand, if your personal sustainability rules are anything like mine, you will never encounter anyone while foraging, so the point is mute anyway.
If you want information on what you are allowed to do, or a permit to do it, the person to contact is the regional botanist for your national forest. (The botanist I spoke with said the position was changing soon, so I won't give his name here.) Whoever has that position should be well informed about regulations and how to issue permits. I started at the nearest forest service office, and they had me talk to the local botanist, because I was interested in plants, and they took a while to figure out how or who would issue a permit. The picture for this post is my Forest Products Free Use Permit, so you can see what one looks like.
(more after the break...)
I also brought with me a print out of the federal regulations, along with interpretations posted on the forest service website by the local national forest, and several other national forests with good interpretations for comparison. The federal regulations explicitly allow taking “incidental” amounts, but leave it to the local forest service to define what “incidental” actually means. So it is a good idea to contact your local forest service for clarification if you have any doubt, but contact someone higher up, such as the regional botanist. The botanist at my local office had never seen the federal regulations before.
When I spoke to the regional botanist, he spent a while discussing ethical practices of collection with me. This is an important topic, so I have another post dedicated to my own personal rules. Some specific things he mentioned were: no collecting in wilderness areas; no collecting in campgrounds or withing 30 feet of trails; only take 1 plant in 30 as a general rule of thumb; do not take any plant on the list of threatened species; collect any and all weedy species you care to; do not leave collection sites in a disturbed condition.
This does not apply to National Parks. You really cannot pick anything in a National Park, and you will be prosecuted if you are caught.
You definitely need a permit for any commercial use, or taking more than “incidental” amounts.
But for taking small amounts (a rock, a flower, etc.), no permit is needed at all. This is in compliance with federal code. A general guideline of 1 plant in 30 was expressed, as an ethical amount.
He suggested other ethical standards such as not collecting in wilderness areas, not collecting in campgrounds or within 30 feet of trails.
Here is the relevant portion of the email I asked him to send me, to be clear about the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest interpretation of the federal regulations.
Based on your description of proposed collection levels and purpose, a special forest products free-use permit (FS-2400-9) is not needed. This is because your collection levels are considered incidental in nature and your purpose is to personally enjoy wild edibles. We discussed how you will adhere to proper ethics of plant collecting, will avoid over-collecting at any one site, and will avoid collection of the species on the attached list or in special management areas (eg., designated Wilderness Areas and RNA’s), campgrounds/picnic grounds, and directly along trials.They can also issue a free use permit (based on calendar year). This comes with certain conditions which would not necessarily apply to you if you did not have a permit. I asked them to go ahead and issue a permit to me, for this year at least, so that I could experience the process of getting one.
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