Ginseng "poachers"??

[Woody Williams]

Mammoth Cave ready for ginseng poachers

SPEWING CAMP BRANCH, Ky. (AP) -- Rangers at Mammoth Cave National Park say they're ready for poachers looking to steal valuable ginseng, which can sell for as much as $400 a pound.

Harvesting the medicinal root is illegal at Mammoth Cave. Since 2000, 10 people have been convicted of theft of government property for taking about 600 ginseng roots at Mammoth Cave. Fines were up to $1,000.

In national and state forests -- but not parks -- diggers can harvest up to one pound of ginseng during the one-month season, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, if they have a $20 permit.

At Mammoth Cave, some plants have been dyed pink and wired with motion detectors or tracking devices that send out a radio locator signal.

Frances Williams, a farmer who lives on 230 acres about 20 miles from Mammoth Cave, said poachers repeatedly trespass on her property to take as much ginseng as they can find.

"Some day I'd like to dig it myself, but I don't think there's any left," Williams said. "People are used to not taking this kind of thing seriously."

Kentucky leads the nation in the amount of wild American ginseng dug each year. It has been dug in Appalachia since colonial days.

More than 90 percent of the Kentucky harvest of the herb ends up in Asia, where many people believe it improves health and has medicinal powers. Legal harvesters collect about $10 million worth of ginseng a year in Kentucky, according to Chris Kring, who manages the ginseng program at the state Department of Agriculture.

The reported value of ginseng dug in Kentucky has remained steady since 2000, according to state figures. But experts say those figures do not take into account illegally dug ginseng.

Park officials in Kentucky said digging before the start of the season is rampant.

David Taylor, a botanist for the Daniel Boone National Forest, said poachers, especially those who dig underdeveloped roots in the spring, pose a threat to the long-term existence of ginseng.

Taylor said Kentucky would benefit from stricter laws and beefed-up enforcement. Other states, such as North Carolina, have had a long-standing crackdown on ginseng poachers, he said.

"They've been aware of the problem for longer," Taylor said.

Mammoth Cave enacted the first of its security measures about three years ago, hoping to prevent ginseng from being pushed into extinction there.

But Rex Mann, a supervisor at the Daniel Boone National Forest, doubted park officials could adequately protect the nearly 700,000-acre Boone forest against poachers, even by using Mammoth Cave's techniques.
"Very few people go out and get a permit, and we're concerned with that," Mann said. "But we're up against human greed."

Instead, forest officials have begun cultivating ginseng seeds for replanting. Park officials have asked people with permits to plant only half the seeds they encounter in the forest and bring the other half to the park's offices.

The seeds are sent to a Forest Service nursery for eventual replanting on park property. So far, only one person has brought in seed, said Marie Walker, a park spokeswoman.

Legal sales, harvesting Ginseng diggers by law must sell the herb to one of 90 dealers registered with the state. In 2003, 827 diggers in Pike County, which annually leads the state in ginseng harvests, sold 1,775 pounds of wild ginseng to dealers, a harvest with a market value of more than $700,000.

[wabi]

Illegal and indiscriminate harvesting of ginseng has destroyed it in much of it's habitat. Where I deer hunt an old "sanger" dug out everything when the prices were good many years ago. The landowner though it had been completely wiped out on his land. A few years ago I found 2 mature (3 prong) plants, and have been carefully planting the seeds they produce each fall when the time is right. I now have 12 to 20 plants growing on a small (perhaps 1/4 acre) plot near where I found the first plants. I finally told the landowner & showed him the plot last fall. He has promised me he will not tell any of the other people who hunt on his land, and he will do all he can to see they remain undisturbed. I don't plan to dig any of the roots in the near future, and I will continue to try to help the patch grow, and may try to establish a patch in a new location this fall.
My father taught me to dig roots from only mature plants, and to dig them only in the fall after the seeds were ready to drop. He would always plant any seeds that remained. He had several patches located, but would only dig roots once every 3 or 4 years at each patch. Many of those patches still prosper!

[raporter1]

I found very few plants when I moved here, I do not dig them just like to find them. Each fall when the berries are ready I pick them and plant them. Had a nice patch going and then that real dry year came along and killed most of them so I am back to where I started. Sad to watch them shrivel up and die. Didn't affect the Yellow root to much though.

[raporter1]

Decided to check my patch this morning and could not find one plant , They were doing just fine earlier. They were only 30-40 yards from my house so I do not think anyone got them.

[mbogo]

wabi said:

Illegal and indiscriminate harvesting of ginseng has destroyed it in much of it's habitat. Where I deer hunt an old "sanger" dug out everything when the prices were good many years ago. The landowner though it had been completely wiped out on his land. A few years ago I found 2 mature (3 prong) plants, and have been carefully planting the seeds they produce each fall when the time is right. I now have 12 to 20 plants growing on a small (perhaps 1/4 acre) plot near where I found the first plants. I finally told the landowner & showed him the plot last fall. He has promised me he will not tell any of the other people who hunt on his land, and he will do all he can to see they remain undisturbed. I don't plan to dig any of the roots in the near future, and I will continue to try to help the patch grow, and may try to establish a patch in a new location this fall.
My father taught me to dig roots from only mature plants, and to dig them only in the fall after the seeds were ready to drop. He would always plant any seeds that remained. He had several patches located, but would only dig roots once every 3 or 4 years at each patch. Many of those patches still prosper!

My grandfather taught me much the same way, not only with ginseng but for yellow root and others as well. I haven't done any root digging since my grandfather passed away and I went off to college, but during my early teens every summer was spent collecting and selling yellow root, mayapple, wild yam, sumac, XXXXXly ash, and sassafras among others. Every now and then I entertain the thought of going again just for nostalgia.

[raporter1]

Mbogo, I hope you are passing that knowledge on to the next generation. Sadly todays kids don't have a clue.

[mbogo]

raporter1 said:

Mbogo, I hope you are passing that knowledge on to the next generation. Sadly todays kids don't have a clue.

I sure hope to one of these days whenever I settle down and have kids of my own.

[cday]

Man back in my younger days I was the ginsenger of Wayne County. we only dug plants that were at least three prone or above. I have dug several knee high four prongers and a few five prongers. In the fall of 1986 just myself I dug a total of 7 lbs of dried root that year. Last year I took my son up that way and we tried to find some so I could show him what it looked like. But someone had gotten into the area patches I kenw of and some I planted back then in the mid 80's and there was none to be found. Back then it was just a few that knew waht it looked like and the biggest majority of them took care not to over harvest and make sure the seeds were replanted. Dad told me that when it hit close to the $400.00 a pound people about just wiped it out.

[garyl]

Quote Mbogo "My grandfather taught me much the same way, not only with ginseng but for yellow root and others as well. I haven't done any root digging since my grandfather passed away and I went off to college, but during my early teens every summer was spent collecting and selling yellow root, mayapple, wild yam, sumac, XXXXXly ash, and sassafras among others. Every now and then I entertain the thought of going again just for nostalgia. "

Same here Mbogo only problem is I don't think I can remember what it all looks like any more as it has been at 20 years since I have hunted for any of the above

[Decatur]

It is definately a fun hobby. My great Grandpa lived in MO, and he taught all about digging roots. We usually dug Ginseng, Bloodroot, Sassafrass and Mayapple. I haven't doen it since passed away tho. One time when we went to the root buyers place, he had 50+ pounds of dried Ginseng he showed us! Man I was drooling!!