Arnica montana, a strictly protected taxon (Photo by Marko Randić)

MESSAGE TO ALL PLANT AND MUSHROOM GATHERERS

The Nature Protection Act (Official Gazette 70/05, 139/08
and 57/11) regulates the gathering of plant and mushrooms belonging to
the category of protected and strictly protected species. It states that
it is forbidden to pick, gather, destroy, cut or dig out strictly protected
wild growing plants and fungi (Art. 97), while a permit is required
from the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection (Directorate
for Nature Protection) for the gathering of plants and fungi belonging
to the category of protected wild taxa, for the purpose of processing,
trade or other reasons (Art. 89). All such activities shall be carried
out subject to the consent of the owner of, or carrier of rights to, natural
resources.

To see the lists of protected and strictly protected
plants in Croatia, go to narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2009_08_99_2569.html
(Ordinance on the proclamation of protected and strictly protected wild
taxa – Official Gazette 99/09).

If you plan to collect protected plant species for further
processing or selling, your activities must comply with the Ordinance
on the collection of protected wild growing plants for the purpose of
processing, trade or other reasons, Official Gazette 154/09. (narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2008_12_154_4197.html
)

According to Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the Ordinance,
collecting plants for personal use means collecting, in one day, up to
a maximum of five pieces of underground plant parts, two kg of stems,
one kg of leaves, one kg of flowers, half a kg of seeds, ten kg of fruits,
half a kg of buds and one kg of the stalks of any plant species. Collecting
for personal use does not require a permit from the Ministry. However,
if the plants are collected in a woodland area or forest managed by the
Croatian Forest Enterprise (Hrvatske Šume), the plant/mushroom gatherer
is required to contact the local Forest Area Office to obtain a permit
and pay a fee according to the Pricelist and quotas established for collecting
specific types of plants.

If you want to gather plants on private property, you
are obliged by the law to obtain the owner’s permission.

Asparagus officinalis is not a protected taxon. To gather it, you need
to obtain a permit from the local Forest Area Office. (Photo by Želimir
Gržančić)