Fw: [PCA] QUESTION: Destruction of Seeds (fwd)

[Nan Vance]

Dear Lauri,

The CFR Part 356.6  for the USDA  APHIS  PPQ Procedures Relating to
Forfeiture
states as follows:

"356.6 Storage of property.
Following the seizure or other reciept of any property specified in 356.1
and valued at $10,000 or less, the property shall remain in the custody of
the Deputy Administrator pending disposition.  Pending such disposition,
the propoerty shall be stored in such place as in the opinion of the Deputy
Administrator, is most convenient and appropreiate with due regard to the
expense involved, and whether or not the place of storage is within the
judicial district in which the property was seized."


The message was cc'd to Mr. Dunkle as he may want to be informed of this
below-described action and may want to edify us as to what the appropriate
and legal procedures are for forfeited plant material.


Sincerely,

Nan C. Vance, PhD
Research Plant Physiologist
USDA Forest Service
PNW Research Station
3200 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
541 750-7302;   FAX: 541 750-7329
email: nvance at fs.fed.us

----- Forwarded by Nan Vance/PNW/USDAFS on 03/22/2005 03:15 PM -----
                                                                           
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                                       [PCA] QUESTION: Destruction of      
                                       Seeds (fwd)                         
             03/22/2005 02:14                                              
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I'm curious if anyone has had similar experiences or can outline the
policy and/or reasoning concerning the topic in this e-mail from Lauri.

Olivia
SER/PCA
http://www.nps.gov/plants/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 20:25:49 +0100
From: Lauri Coulombe <lauri at coulombe.info>
To: plant at plantconservation.org
Subject: destruction of highly endangered plant seeds

I was wondering if you could help me figure out how to take action on a
specific issue. The palm tree species Pritchardia remota, native to Hawaii,
is virtually extinct in the wild and it only lives because people propagate
it. While it is prohibited to take the plants out of Hawaii, it is not
illegal to take the seeds out as long as they are acknowledged to be from
cultivated origin (this is according to the USDA website).  Recently a
friend in Europe shipped some of these seeds to California (he has also
supplied seeds to the Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Garden at
Kew). He was unaware of the necessity of marking the label to indicate they
were from cultivation, and so the USDA confiscated the seeds and, instead
of
sending them back indicating they must be labeled or doing something else
productive with them, they DESTROYED them! How is this different from
killing an endangered plant or animal? If someone was trying to move a
Panda
and it didn't have the required paperwork they wouldn't put the Panda to
sleep! This is absolutely absurd; if the USDA was really concerned about
protecting this plant they would not have incinerated these seeds.  I
really
want to take some action on this, particularly as I've heard of other such
practices exercised by the USDA as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service.
If the very government agencies that are supposed to be protecting our
wildlife are destroying it, what hope do we have?
Thank you for your time.
Lauri D. Coulombe


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