(a) Except as provided in a permit issued pursuant to § 17.72, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and all of the provisions of § 17.61, except § 17.61(c)(2) through (4), apply to threatened species of plants, unless the Secretary has promulgated species-specific provisions (see paragraph (c) of this section), with the following exception: Seeds of cultivated specimens of species treated as threatened are exempt from all the provisions of § 17.61, provided that a statement that the seeds are of “cultivated origin” accompanies the seeds or their container during the course of any activity otherwise subject to the regulations in this subpart.

(b)(1) Notwithstanding § 17.61(c)(1) and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, any other Federal land management agency, federally recognized Tribe, or a State conservation agency, who is designated by their agency or Tribe for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of official duties, remove and reduce to possession threatened plants from areas under Federal jurisdiction without a permit if such action is necessary to:

(i) Care for a damaged or diseased specimen;

(ii) Dispose of a dead specimen; or

(iii) Salvage a dead specimen that may be useful for scientific study.

(2) Any removal and reduction to possession pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of this section must be reported in writing to the Office of Law Enforcement, via contact methods listed at https://www.fws.gov, within 5 calendar days. The specimen may only be retained, disposed of, or salvaged under directions from the Office of Law Enforcement.

(3) Notwithstanding § 17.61(c)(1) and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service or of a State conservation agency that is operating a conservation program pursuant to the terms of an approved cooperative agreement with the Service that covers the threatened species of plants in accordance with section 6(c) of the Act, who is designated by their agency for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of official duties, remove and reduce to possession from areas under Federal jurisdiction those species.

(c) For threatened species of plants that have a species-specific rule in §§ 17.73 through 17.78, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and § 17.72 apply unless otherwise specified, and the species-specific rule will contain all the prohibitions and any additional exceptions that apply to that species.