No plants, animals, or parts thereof, living or dead, or geological materials may be collected in the Cornell Plantations Arboretum, Botanical Garden, or Natural Areas without prior permission.

In the botanical garden and arboretum, plant materials (seed, cuttings, scionwood, etc.) may be collected in limited quantities with prior approval of a written proposal. Priority will be given to proposals with an educational or research purpose and for plants difficult to obtain elsewhere.

In natural areas, generally only nondestructive or limited sampling for educational and research purposes is permitted. Research or educational activities should not present a hazard to other visitors or interfere with other ongoing educational or research uses. Prior approval of a written proposal is required.

Permit procedures

1. All proposals for collecting plant materials within the arboretum or botanical garden will be submitted to the assistant director for horticulture (Mary Hirshfield).

2. All proposals for collecting plant, animal, or site materials in the natural areas will be submitted to the natural areas coordinator.

3. A written proposal for collecting in the arboretum or botanical garden should include the purpose or goals of the project; a list of the species or individuals from which material is to collected; the location, quantity and size of material; type of material to be collected (seed, cutting, etc.); the method of collecting (e.g. cuttings, collecting fallen fruit, harvesting fruit from trees, etc.); and the expected dates and times of collecting. Collecting is permitted only during the work week (M-F, 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.).

4. A written proposal for collecting in natural areas should include the goals of the research or educational project, the species or materials to be collected, the location, date(s) or period of collecting, the project duration, methods, and an assessment of the effect of the project on the site of existing population.

5. Instructors: to ensure that the materials you wish to collect are available for courses, prior to the start of each semester, please fill out a listing the species needed. This will help ensure that the living collections are augmented when possible to meet teaching needs.

6. Collecting Request Forms are available at Plantations Headquarters Building (607-255-2400). We will return a copy of the completed proposal to you noting our decision and signing it if approval is granted. The signed form must be brought to the Headquarters Building to obtain a collector's badge at the time you are scheduled to collect. You must wear the badge to indicate to the grounds staff and other visitors that you have permission to collect.

For more information, please contact:

Mary Hirschfeld

Cornell Plantations

1 Plantations Road

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-3141

email: mfh6@cornell.edu

Natural Areas program

607-255-9638

or complete an on-line collection request here (Arboretum/Botanical Gardens ONLY).