There does seem to be a permit you can get for digging natives out of national parks but I was not interested in this at the moment. They did not know what do do when it came to exotics. One lady said "You want a permit to dig weeds from the side of the road" Well yes I guess so I said
I was put onto the RTA and when I contacted them the guy I got was very helpful but he stated that they only control the water drain beside the road but I was welcome to dig there as long as I did not get run over. There was no permit but he wrote my name in his book and I have his contact details. He was very impressed that I made certain comments about not collecting from banks or other areas that would be an erosion threat.
I was told although there was no permit to dig exotics from national Parks I just had to clear it with the head Ranger for that area. One I called was no worries but he had no exotics he knew of. ( that was a trail run for the one I really wanted) The one I really wanted was more hesitant but I did not get a no. We agreed to meet in the future after he sees how we go collecting Fire thorns and cotoneaster just outside the national park. After re-visiting the area I can see his concern as there are many that surround a steep cliffed pond and you could make a mess if you weren't carefull. This is A submerged cave area. So I will see if I can line that up for next year.
I called the council about another area and was told to put in a letter to the general manager or some crap. Call me pessimistic if you like but anyone that is not willing to chat on the phone about these things to clarify I don't believe I will get any good response from.
Whatever you do you just can't take the attitude of I will do as I please it sets a really bad example and then we all wear it. I understand that some of these departments would rather chat on the Internet
than do their job so it is up to you to do what they should be doing. Research make a checklist of do's and don'ts get educated about the possible issues of this collecting, soil pathogens, diseases and such. Find a department that will be helpful. A very good read was the information on when permits could be given for removal of trees on private property that farmers would get. If I find that again I will post a link.
