[MPWG] stings as a resource management strategy? [FWD]

[Plant Conservation]

This accidentally got sent to the wrong address, so I'm resending to the
list.  The original sender's e-mail address is below.

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>From "Eric P. Burkhart" <epb6 at psu.edu> on Fri, 9 Jan 2004 08:02:22
Subject:	stings as a resource management strategy?

Hi All:

Well now, as someone working with American ginseng management issues,
these latest postings have caught my interest.....

Regarding this sting business, here is a what a collector had to say about
the story after I forwarded it to him:

Hello Eric,

Every time I see an article like the one from the Post first I am sadden
by the impression given to the public by the press and the persons being
interviewed  Clay Jordan ,acting ranger, ---his statement.
Then Mr. Jim Chamberlain I think I would like to meet this man and find
out how you study harvest and exportation.  I suggest he study sustainable
resource useage to help those with low incomes and unemployed.

I wish that as much effort was put into drug trafficing.  Put the silicon
chips in the cocaine and follow the trail..
It is very easy to point fingers at each other and blame each other than
to find solutions to problems.

Folks, it is, as all is, a much more complicated situation than the
article would have us perceive.  I mean, on the one hand, we have good
people catching others that should not be taking from the public good; on
the other hand, what opportunity and recognition has been given to these
collectors, many of whom are also good folk?  A couple of hundred years
ago, they would have been pioneers; today, they are criminals.  

Ultimately, I ask: what common good is achieved by arresting these folks. 
Is there not some better (and more economically sensible) way to achieve
the same end results (resource management)??  We all agree that such
collection cannot go unabated, without any sort of attention, but I wonder
how much money was spent on the "sting" and how much seed it could buy
instead for the "poachers" to spread around???  Perhaps this should be
their penalty??

While I am a plant conservationist at heart, and have a devoted
relationship to American ginseng, I am really amiss to conclude that
American ginseng is somehow endangered.....when there remains so much
interest in sowing, growing, and otherwise propagating the species.  What
are we looking to achieve through "stings" that we could not otherwise
achieve by taking the time to build relationships with people and
communities, and investing them with the capacity to perpetuate and police
their resources?  I realize that this is a complicated task I speak of,
and perhaps even too ideological to be entirely practical, but I tell
those who think that "stings" are the answer: look at the
anthropological-sociological literature (a couple of interesting pieces
were mentioned by Eric Jones yesterday) and you will find that prohibition
never works.  In fact, why do you think that they had to set up the
"sting" in the first place??.....because the prohibition on digging in the
Parks was not being followed!!  And if you think that this "sting" will
set an example, I say that now those that dig illegally will just be even
more careful...now that the cat is out of the bag.  Maybe I am wrong
here.......I won't pretend to be more enlightened than the rest.

All the best,

Eric

School of Forest Resources
7 Ferguson Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
epb6 at psu.edu