Last updated/Reviewed on June 18, 2025
Overview
New Jersey stands at a crossroads. We can either continue documenting the decline of our native flora or act decisively to protect it. Legislative efforts like the Plant Protection Act and the Invasive Species Management Act offer meaningful solutions—but they need public pressure and political will to move forward. The longer we delay, the fewer options we will have to safeguard our state’s wild botanical heritage.
Current Status
S1029 – Invasive Species Management Act (Replacement of A3367 which was passed in the 2022-2023 session, but vetoed by Governor Murphy): Advancing through the 2024–2025 legislative session.
A1817 – New Jersey Endangered and Threatened Plant Protection Act: Introduced on January 9, 2024, referred to the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee, and not yet posted for a hearing.
A165 – Amendments to the Endangered Plant Species List Act: Introduced on January 9, 2024, referred to the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee, and not yet posted for a hearing.
Pinelands Commission: Staff have sporadically met with PPA and other members of the NJ Plant Partnership, but have not indicated a willingness to update the list of protected plant species.
Want to help?
PPA is monitoring this legislation closely. Please contact Mike Klein with any related questions: michael@pinelandsalliance.org.
Background Information
New Jersey has over 2,100 species of native plants. This impressive diversity equates to approximately 13% of the floral diversity in the United States in just 0.25% of the landmass. New Jersey’s plant diversity is largely attributed to the distinct ecological regions found here and that New Jersey is a meeting ground for both northern and southern species that are at the edge of their range.
A staggering 39% of native plants in New Jersey are considered rare and the overall trend is negative. Overall, from 2006 to 2016 the number of listed state endangered plants increased by 26 and the number of extirpated, or locally extinct, went up by 10 species. Beyond rarity at the state level, New Jersey is home to 42 species that are considered globally rare.
Unlike animals, rare plants in the state of New Jersey do not have any statewide protections. The state doesn’t even recognize a “threatened” category for plants, and there are currently no laws to prevent their intentional harm, removal, or sale.
The forests of the Pinelands that support endangered plants are themselves endangered by invasive plants. In the Pinelands, invasive plant species include Chinese bush clover and common reed grass, in addition to Chinese silvergrass, golden bamboo, and weeping lovegrass.
Invasive plants significantly threaten natural ecosystems like the Pinelands. Invasive plants can be more successful than native species gaining resources like food, space, or nutrients, growing rapidly and displacing native vegetation and decreasing biodiversity. At the same time, invasive plants likely have few natural predators, like deer, to keep them under control. Invasive plants also cause significant damage to farms, outcompeting crop plants. Given the Pinelands’ significant agriculture industry and its ecosystem that provides the habitat for many endangered plants and animals, protecting this area from invasive plants is critical.
Vetoed Legislation to Address Invasive Plants: DEP vs. Department of Agriculture
Assembly Bill No. 3367 from the 2022-2023 legislative session would have prohibited the sale, offering for sale, distribution, importation, exportation, or other propagation of certain invasive plant species in New Jersey, except under a valid permit issued by the Department of Agriculture, and it would have required the Department of Agriculture to adopt regulations establishing and implementing a permitting program to facilitate the safe sale
and distribution of regulated invasive species in the State. The bill would have also codified in statute the New Jersey Invasive Species Council that was created by Governor Corzine’s Executive Order No. 97 of 2004.
The bill defined “regulated invasive species” to mean an invasive plant species, and any non-hybrid sub-species, variety, cultivar, or other subcategory thereof, that is included in a list of invasive species developed by the Department of Agriculture under the bill.
At a legislative hearing in December 2022, advocates testified that New Jersey is one of only five states that has no statewide regulations or strategy to ban or contain invasive species. According to the New Jersey Forest Task Force, invasive plant species degrade forests and have caused $1.3 trillion in damage globally in the past 40 years. Invasive plants were a recurring concern in a state-commissioned report the New Jersey Forest Stewardship Task Force released in February 2023.
Governor Murphy vetoed the bill on Jan. 8, 2024, stating, “the bill does not consider the existing authority of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) in this space.”
A similar bill is moving through the legislature during the current legislative session. Senate Bill No. 1029 – named the Invasive Species Management Act – would prohibit the sale, distribution, import, export, and propagation of certain invasive plant species. The bill would also establish the New Jersey Invasive Species Council in DEP, which would advise the DEP on invasive species management.
The bill would prohibit the propagation and importation of certain invasive plant species, as listed in subsection a. of section 4 of the bill. The bill would then prohibit the sale, distribution, and export of the prohibited invasive plant species. The bill would establish a process for a conditional use waiver and certain exceptions for cultivars of the invasive species.
The bill would establish the New Jersey Invasive Species Council in DEP. The council would provide recommendations to the DEP commissioner regarding additional species that should be classified as invasive and whether the species should be placed on the list of prohibited invasive species.
The bill was released from the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on Jan. 14, 2025 and amended on the floor of the Senate on Feb. 25. The floor amendments provide that the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Agriculture would be jointly authorized to enforce the bill’s provisions, with the Department of Agriculture given primary enforcement responsibility for any violations involving the sale, offer for sale, propagation for sale, or importation of invasive plant species, and DEP given primary enforcement for all other violations.
Other Current Legislation
Two pieces of legislation, each introduced Jan. 9, 2024 and assigned to the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee but not yet posted for a hearing, aim to protect endangered species of plants and control invasive species.
Assembly Bill No. 165 would amend the definition of the term “endangered species” as used in the State’s Endangered Plant Species List Act to mean any plant species that (1) is designated as listed, proposed, or under review by the federal government as endangered or threatened throughout its range in the United States pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, any additional species known or believed to be rare throughout its worldwide range, and any species having five or fewer extant populations within the State, and (2) is not an invasive species.
The bill would define the term “invasive species” to mean any plant that has a high potential to become noxious or that is likely to spread to a degree that will likely cause damage to the environment, human economy, or human health.
The bill would also allow the Department of Environmental Protection to remove any plant from the endangered plant species list, if the plant is an invasive species, unless the plant is included on the federal endangered plant species list under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Furthermore, the bill would authorize DEP to control or eliminate an invasive plant species regardless of the existence, or possible existence, of endangered plant species in the area being controlled, except as may be prohibited by federal law, rule, or regulation.
Assembly Bill No. 1817, named the “New Jersey Endangered and Threatened Plant Protection Act,” would prohibit certain actions relative to endangered and threatened plant species, and it would direct the commissioner of DEP to establish programs to protect endangered and threatened plant species.
The bill would define “endangered and threatened plant species” as any species on the respective lists developed by the Division of Parks and Forestry in DEP pursuant to the Endangered Plant Species List Act. The bill would create a new category of protection under that act named “threatened plant species,” which is defined as any native plant species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range, including, but not limited to, plant species designated as listed, proposed, or under review by the federal government as threatened throughout its range in the United States pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. Consequently, the bill would also rename the State law to be the “Endangered and Threatened Plant Species List Act.”
The bill would largely prohibit the transport, export, import, willful damage, or destruction of a listed plant species, and selling or offering to sell a listed plant species. The bill would also require DEP to establish programs, including the acquisition of land or aquatic habitats, deemed necessary for the conservation and management of endangered and threatened plant species. Moreover, the bill calls for the establishment of the “Endangered and Threatened Plant Species Advisory Committee” to advise and assist the commissioner.
Updates also needed at the Pinelands Commission
The Pinelands CMP was established to safeguard the natural resources of the New Jersey Pinelands, including rare and endangered plants. CMP rule N.J.A.C. 7:50-6.27 prohibits development that could cause irreversible harm to plant species listed as endangered by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) or among the 54 species specifically named in the rule that can be found in this list.
However, the list is outdated and excludes many vulnerable species currently tracked by the DEP’s Natural Heritage Program as “species of concern.” While New Jersey does not officially designate “threatened” plants, these “species of concern” serve as the working list for future endangered classifications and align with the federal definition of “threatened”—species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. Most are ranked S1 (critically imperiled), S2 (imperiled), or S3 (rare), with others listed as extirpated or historical. These species meet the intent of CMP protections but remain unprotected due to gaps in the existing rule. Without expanding the CMP to include them, and in the face of worsening climate impacts, the Pinelands risks losing more plant species than expected. The Commission must act now to update the list and fulfill the conservation mandate at the heart of the CMP.
We propose that section 7:50-6.27 be amended to read, “No development shall be carried out by any person unless it is designed to avoid irreversible adverse impacts on the survival of any local populations of those plants listed by the New Jersey Natural Heritage Program as ‘Endangered Plant Species and Plant Species of Concern’.” Doing so would bring the Pinelands protections into alignment with the Highlands protection standards, which call for protection of all listed plant species of concern. This is the only sensible approach from a conservation perspective.