N.M. Code R. § 19.21.2.7 – Definitions

A. “Agricultural practice” means grazing and grazing management practices such as feeding, herding or gathering; ditch clearing or burning; planting; applying herbicides to cultivated fields; harvesting; mowing of hay fields or pastures; burning pastures or fields or cultivating, plowing or disking fields or similar activities; road maintenance; and the maintenance, repair or replacement of fences, dirt tanks (earthen impoundments), water tanks and troughs, wells and windmills, pumps or solar panels powering wells, loading chutes, corrals, erosion control structures and water pipelines.
B. “Applicant” means the person applying for a permit required by 19.21.2 NMAC to take endangered plants for scientific study, propagation or collection of voucher specimens or to take an endangered plant(s) where taking is incidental and not the purpose of carrying out an otherwise lawful activity. If a governmental entity is issuing a permit, lease, license, authorization, right-of-way, easement or similar document that allows a person to conduct the lawful activity (drilling, fence installation, pipeline construction, etc.), the applicant for an incidental take permit shall be the person conducting the lawful activity not the governmental entity.
C. “Department” means the energy, minerals and natural resources department.
D. “Endangered plant” means a plant that is a member of the species listed in 19.21.2.9 NMAC.
E. “Harm” means direct physical injury or damage to a plant that results in reduced viability of the plant, including reproductive potential and future health and growth.
F. “Permittee” means the person issued a permit by the state forester or a person required to have a permit pursuant to 19.21.2 NMAC. The permittee shall be the person responsible for the scientific study, propagation or collection of voucher specimens of endangered plants or the person undertaking a lawful activity where taking of an endangered plant(s) is incidental and not the purpose of carrying out the otherwise lawful activity. If a governmental entity is issuing a permit, lease, license, authorization, right-of-way, easement or similar document that allows a person to conduct the lawful activity (drilling, fence installation, pipeline construction, etc.), the permittee for an incidental take permit shall be the person conducting the lawful activity not the governmental entity.
G. “Person” means an individual or entity including partnerships, corporations, associations or joint ventures and its officers, agents or employees; the state or a political subdivision of the state and its officers, agents or employees; or an agency, department or instrumentality of the United States and its officers, agents or employees.
H. “Population site” means an area of occurrence of a particular species.
I. “Specimen” means the physical parts or a plant in its entirety taken from a population site for the purpose of scientific study.
J. “State forester” means the director of the department’s forestry division and the department secretary’s designated representative for the purposes of administering the department’s authorities and responsibilities under Section 75-6-1 NMSA 1978 including endangered plant investigations and issuance of scientific study, propagation, collection of voucher specimen or incidental take permits.
K. “Taking” means to remove, harm, kill, destroy, possess, transport, export, sell, or offer for sale any of the plants, or parts thereof, listed in 19.21.2.9 NMAC, from the places in the state of New Mexico where they naturally grow including federally owned land, private land, state owned land or land owned by political subdivisions of the state, but not tribal trust or restricted fee land or individual trust allotments. Taking does not include the
1. (1) incidental removal, harm, killing or destruction of endangered plants resulting from agricultural practices; or
2. (2) removal, harm, killing, destruction, possession or transport of endangered plants by tribal members for religious purposes.
L. “Tribal member” means a member of an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo.
M. “Voucher specimen” means an identifiable and representative specimen taken by a botanical collector from a population site for the purpose of documenting that site as occupied habitat. It shall be accompanied by pertinent information on location, habitat, collector, date taken and any other notes the collector can present concerning the population site.
[10/29/1985, 12/23/1991, 8/31/1995; 19.21.2.7 NMAC - Rn & A, 19 NMAC 21.2.7, 11/30/2006; A, 07/28/2020; A, 04/25/2023]