For the purposes of this title unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Board" means the governing body of the department.
(2) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
(3) "Director" means the administrative head of the department, appointed by the board.
(4) "Enforcement officer" means an enforcement officer of the Natural Resources Enforcement Division of the department.
(5) The following terms define wildlife, fish, and plant species under the jurisdiction of the department or its successor agency:
(a) "Established" or "naturalized" means a nonindigenous organism with one or more reproducing wild populations.
(b) "Exotic" means an organism or species indigenous to a foreign ecosystem.
(c) "Indigenous" or "native" means an organism or species found naturally in this State prior to the arrival of the first European settlers.
(d) "Introduced" means an organism or species moved by human action to an area or ecosystem where it was not found historically.
(e) "Invasive" means nonindigenous organisms or species that establish in a new area or ecosystem, extend their geographic range and usually include native ecological or economic impacts.
(f) "Locally established" means a nonindigenous species with one or more naturally reproducing populations in an area or ecosystem but with very restricted distribution and no evidence of range expansion.
(g) "Nonindigenous", "alien", "exotic", "foreign", "transplanted", "nonnative", or "introduced" means an organism or species found in an area or ecosystem outside its historic or native geographic range.
(h) "Transplant" or "translocated" means an organism or species moved by human action, deliberately or accidentally from its indigenous ecosystem to an area outside of its native range.
(i) "Wild" means an organism or species living in the environment not cultivated or domesticated.
HISTORY: 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1257; 2010 Act No. 200, Section 1, eff May 28, 2010.
Effect of Amendment
The 2010 amendment added subsection (5) relating to terms that define wildlife, fish, and plant species.