[MPWG] Non-timber forest products news digest

[penny at pinenut.com]

Subject: NTFP News Digest 8

Non-timber Forest Product News

 National Network of Forest Practioners NTFP Working Group

www.nnfp.org
Digest Issue 8
August,  22, 2005

********************************************************************
Editor Penny Frazier,
penny at pinenut.com
 ********************************************************************

Notes From The Editor:

As a result of the controversy over wild blueberry harvest in Alaska, I dug
a little deeper into wild berry harvest news . While our newsletter is to
focus on news from The United States, the issues of harvesting rights,
commercial vs. subsistence use, and environmental concerns were reflected
in stories from other corners of the world. I thought it might be useful
for us to look at wild berry harvest news from other regions. As always,
this newsletter is intended to be forwarded to anyone who might find the
information useful.

The Editor's Pick

INTERVIEW WITH GARY PAUL NABHAN

HELP WANTED:

Seeking a guest editor for The National Network of Forest Practioners Issue
#9. The regular editor is unable to publish a Sept/Oct issue because of her
work with pinon pine nuts.  Please email penny at pinenut.com if you can
volunteer to produce Issue 9 of the Non-timber forest products newsletter
for www.nnfp.org.


 Contents:

 I - News Article Review

 II - Research and Publications

 III - Events and Announcements

 IV - Funding and Grants

I NEWS ARTICLE REVIEW

STATE LAND: Local lobby stymies firm's effort to pick 150,000 pounds
http://www.adn.com/front/story/6811760p-6701822c.html
Published: August 13th, 2005 A diet supplement company hoped to pick
commercial quantities of wild blueberries on Alaska state land, but ran
into surprising opposition -- from the wild berry lobby.
"It caught them blindsided, out of sync, out of rotation," said Merrill
Sikorski, Denali Biotechnologies' public relations representative. "In oil
and gas it happens all the time.

Rainy June brings dreams of wild huckleberry harvest
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/02/HOGOHDGMLD1.DTL
Huckleberries grow wild at the edges and under the forest canopy of
redwoods, fir and oaks in Northern California so they are totally dependent
on rain for moisture. Fat plump berries are what I am looking forward to
seeing at harvest time this year. Normally, the huckleberries are small,
but this year I am hoping to see many as large as commercial blueberries.

Sweden's Wild Berries
http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/Article____12290.aspx
In a sense, Swedes' love for their wild berries is protected in law. Our
unique Right of Public Access allows citizens access to the open
countryside in a way that exists only in Scandinavia; wild berries, fungi
and flowers are common property and may be picked as long as it is done
with care. And in addition, berry-picking and selling on a small scale is
not taxed. 'Untaxed' is a word many hold very dear in this country of high
taxation. An old tradition permits the sale of "berries and cones" up to a
value of EUR 550 while the taxman turns a blind eye.

Thai berry pickers earn money in Finnish Lapland
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101980482645
A group of 40 Thais arrived in Savukoski in the north of Finland on
Thursday evening to spend the coming two months picking wild blueberries to
earn extra money.  A total of about 92 of the pickers are coming to
Savukoski for about two months, when blueberries are ripe in the local
forests. Most of the pickers are rice farmers at home who do not speak
English. Saowanee Akosuma, who works in an office, serves as an
interpreter.
Wild blueberries fetch about one euro per kilo, cloudberries bring in EUR
4.50 a kilo, and lingonberries EUR 0.80 a kilo."Unfortunately some take a
negative view of this. We do buy berries from local people as well, but we
need more. There is huge demand for blueberries around the world", says

Hankering for some huckleberries
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-fo.huckleberries10aug10,1,3216233.story?coll=bal-pe-alacarte&ctrack=1&cset=true
"It used to be a Northwest secret, but it's starting to get out," says John
Anderson, president of Foods in Season, a family-owned business that
packages and sells huckleberries online for $23.95 per half gallon. Each
year sales of huckleberries grow, he says.Conservative estimates put the
huckleberry business at $11 million a year, says Danny L. Barney, a
horticultural specialist at the University of Idaho. NOTE: This article has
great recipies!

Ginseng export regulations pose problems for industry
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=61787-ginseng-export-regulations

8/8/2005 - New regulations on the export of wild ginseng root aim to help
preserve the plant from extinction but could cause problems for the herbals

industry, at least over the next five years.  It is unfortunate that a
decision of this importance has to happen behind closed doors, as the cart
has gotten before the horse, at least for the 2005 harvest," said Hayes.
Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association
agreed: "It must be acknowledged that the current system does not allow our
input in the decision-making process, which makes it very difficult to make
good business plans if wild ginseng is important to your company."

For hunters of ginseng, new rules - Restriction says medicinal plant has to
be 10 years old before it's eligible for export
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite
?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784393402
Tony Ogden has tended a country store in Amherst County for 47 years.
And for 47 years he has bought wild ginseng from hunters who comb the
surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains to dig the medicinal root.
Ogden believes that a recent rule change by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service might put an end to that tradition. "If you go by the letter [from
the government], you probably shouldn't even buy any of it," he said.  The
federal agency issued a notice this month that it is increasing the age
limit for ginseng roots eligible for export from five years to 10 years
this season. The five-year age restriction, put in place in 1999, was the
first ever on ginseng exports.  The change applies to Virginia and 18 other
states. It is meant to halt the rapid disappearance -- caused by
overharvest- ing -- of wild ginseng on private land and in national parks
and forests. The age restriction also applies to ginseng grown under
simulated wild conditions unless the grower obtains an exemption from the
agency.

State game officials reach out to diverse communities
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8434
... About 80 people, many Korean, turned out for detailed explanations on
everything from why wild ginseng plants can't be harvested for medicinal
purposes to the...year after an international bear parts sting landed
dozens of Asians in jail and led to cries of racism, state officials are
pursuing more effective ways to educate Virginia's diverse communities
about environmental laws

Mushroom-picker finds prize specimen
http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=fdea4fb312ad3537
And Coleman, 77, should know. Originally from Iowa, he grew up foraging for
mushrooms. He used to hunt for them with his grandfather, father and uncle.
They'd go up in the Iowa hills, find some good fungi and cook them up.
"They are a whole lot sweeter than the kind you get in the store," he said.


ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS and NTFPs

Alaska Natives Push for More Toxin Studies
http://enn.com/eco.html?id=583
June 21, 2005 - By Associated Press
FAIRBANKS - Alaska Natives have seen runny bone marrow in moose and
caribou, and lesions and parasites in fish -- and that makes Shawna Larson
wonder if toxic chemicals in these traditional foods are making people
sick, too.  "We see things our elders never used to see," she said at the
60th American
Chemical Society Northwest Conference. "Why do we have cancer? Why do we
have high diabetes?"  Larson, who works for Alaska Community Action on
Toxins, and others say the
anecdotal evidence linking sickness in the wild food supply to illness in
humans needs to be studied.

Contaminated BOP eels a symptom of bigger problem
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0506/S00708.htm
Contaminated BOP eels a symptom of bigger problem
Whakatane residents are unlikely to be the only New Zealanders at risk of
eating wild foods contaminated with dioxins and timber treatment chemicals,
the Green Party says.
Sixty warning signs are to be erected on Monday next to the Orini and
Kopeopeo canals

Fires increase wild mushroom pickings in Alaska
http://www.freshplaza.com/2005/11jul/1_us_moriel.htm
Alaska is the great unknown on the mushroom circuit, having produced them
on a commercial scale only once, after fires in 1990 resulted in what are
often recalled as "carpets of morels" near Fairbanks and Tok. If this ever
happened before, no one had paid much attention, but by the spring of 1991
wild mushrooms had become a culinary essential, and a few prescient buyers
made their way to the state. They were amply rewarded. That year, the
98,000-acre Tok River Fire yielded a morel harvest of 300,000 pounds. By
comparison, this year's burn is nearly 70 times larger.
In 2004, Alpine Foragers' Exchange, the company Jay Southard buys for,
purchased more than 200,000 pounds of chanterelles for as little as $1.50 a
pound and sold them for as much as $6.50 a pound. But it can just as easily
be ruinous: This year's morel harvest in Oregon was one of the worst on
record.

Bark beetles raise fire danger
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/08/01/news/wyoming/7947e7b822d2bea38725704f0020faf8.txt

By BRODIE FARQUHAR - Star-Tribune correspondent
Something extraordinary is going on with forests in Wyoming and the West.
While bark beetles have always been part of forest life cycles, massive
spruce beetle outbreaks are reported from Alaska to Utah; ponderosa pines
are dying in numbers not seen in centuries; pinon pines are vanishing as a
keystone species in much of the Southwest; and mountain pine beetle
outbreaks are occurring where they've never occurred before.  "You've heard
of urban renewal," said Bill Schaupp, an entomologist with the Forest
Service office in Rapid City, S.D., "well, this is extreme forest renewal."
On a massive scale that senior and retired entomologists have never seen
before, "bug 'n crud" specialists like Schaupp are reporting an epidemic of
insect infestations from sagebrush to timberline in the West.  Weakened by
drought, overcrowding, rising temperatures and even fire, forests
throughout the West are under siege by bark beetles, so much so that
federal entomologists report that beetles in 12 Western states killed 8.6
million acres of trees last year, compared with 1.4 million acres in 1997.

Hawaiians Turn To Traditional healers
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/08/18/hawaii.herbs.ap/index.html
Traditional healers are exempt from state licensing, but their
qualifications are reviewed by elder councils affiliated with the health
care systems, and in turn reviewed by a Native Hawaiian health board, said
Hardy Spoehr, executive director of Papa Ola Lokahi.

Red Clover for Hormone Replancement Therapy
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=61776-clover-menopause-pms

8/8/2005 - UK doctors, struggling to give advice to women on alternatives
to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), are launching a study to find out how

effective red clover is at preventing the hot flushes experienced during
menopause.

Walnut extract targeted for AMD supplement
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=61165-resveratrol-amd-nuts

7/8/2005 - An extract of resveratrol-rich walnuts could offer supplement
makers a new ingredient for tackling the onset of age-related macular
degeneration, writes Dominique Patton.  Age-related macular degeneration is
the most common cause of vision loss among people over the age of 60,
affecting millions of older adults every year.

Walnut advice helps diabetics protect their hearts
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=61164-walnuts-diabetes-cardiovascular

7/7/2005 - Advising type-2 diabetes patients to include walnuts in their
diet helps them achieve a dietary fat profile with optimal amounts of
polyunsaturated fatty acids, which helps protect against heart disease, say
researchers

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), is a treaty among 167 nations that work to ensure that
international trade in animal and plant species is not detrimental to the
survival of wild populations.  Many U.S. species are listed on CITES,
including ginseng, goldenseal, and orchids, to name a few.  You can search
the CITES-listed species database at:
http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/species.html

Milk thistle found to stimulate growth of new liver cells
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/12440061.htm
By Maureen Gilmer
It has been called the "silent epidemic." This virus can take from 10 to 30
years to show outward symptoms. Outside the obvious high-risk groups, it is
often first detected as part of life insurance physicals. By the time
hepatitis C is discovered, cirrhosis and liver failure can be imminent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Lipid Nutrition introduces pine nut fat to stop overeating
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=59912
11/05/2005- A fatty acid extracted from pine nuts can suppress appetite and
reduce the amount of food people feel like eating, according to Dutch firm
Lipid Nutrition, introducing the new weight management ingredient to the
food and supplement industry yesterday, writes Dominique Patton

Tree-hugging toothpaste
www.organixsouth.com
Who needs the toothfairy when you have a tooth tree? Neem, a plant which is
commonly known in India as the "Toothbrush Tree", has traditionally been
used in India and southern Asia to help maintain healthy teeth and gums.
The bark and the sap are known for their cleaning and protecting abilities
of the mouth.
Organix South's new TheraNeem Herbal Toothpaste, containing extracts of
Neem Bark and Leaf, Grapeseed, Clove, and Fennel, is mint-flavored to leave
your mouth feeling great and your teeth happy. The toothpaste, which is
free of lauryl sulfates, saccharin, parabens, artificial colors, artificial
flavors, and fluoride, includes no animal by-products or testing.

INTERVIEW WITH GARY PAUL NABHAN
http://www.bioneers.org/programs/food_farming/nabhan.php
Gary Nabhan:  Just as our cultivated plants have slowly become eroded
genetically, our wild foods have too. As we cut natural habitat up into
smaller pieces, we lose different kinds of strawberries, different kinds of
cranberries, different kinds of camas root or flavors of mesquite. A lot of
that is due to habitat loss. It's a parallel situation to the hedgerow
habitat loss that we had in every land based cultural community in the
United States, not just indigenous cultures, but also the Amish, Mennonite,
Basque, Cajun, Creole, and Connecticut Yankee. We used to make room for
these wild foods in our landscape, and now we're literally plowing from one
roadside to the next and we call a farm something that is really just a
single mono crop field. We call a ranch something that just has one breed
of livestock on it and one pasture grass.

II RESEARCH

Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring: Guidelines for
Scientists and Managers
Team: David Pilz, Heidi Ballard, Eric T. Jones
Administration: Institute for Culture and Ecology (IFCAE)
www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf3/
A goal of this project has been to synthesize the literature and
stakeholder knowledge on participatory monitoring and create a tool to help
forest managers and scientists: 1) broaden participation to meet biological
monitoring needs while maintaining scientific standards, and 2) build
positive long-term relationships with participants and their local
communities.  The guidelines are designed as a reference handbook on the
managerial, scientific, and social considerations of participatory
monitoring and complement rather than duplicate existing manuals providing
monitoring methods (e.g., Monitoring Plant and Animal Populations, Elzinga
et al. 2001).  The guidelines can be scaled to work with any type of
project whether bottom-up or top-down, large or small, volunteer or small
contractor.

III EVENTS

NATIONAL NETWORK OF FORST PRACTITIONER'S ANNUAL MEETING
A Holistic Perspective
http://www.nnfp.org/
September 7-10, 2005
Burr Oak State Park
Glouster, Ohio

This year's meeting will bring together forest practitioners from around
the country to learn about cutting edge developments in the field, share
strategies and approaches, and have fun. The meeting will help build a
deeper understanding of the diversity of people and work involved in
community forestry, provide hand-on skill development and help to create a
stronger foundation for support of our mutual efforts. www.nnfp.org

Silent Auction:  Please consider bringing a part of your forest and work to
be included in our Annual Meeting's silent auction.  Gift donations  can
include ntfp harvested items, crafts, wood work, books, art, or anything
related to your experience in community forestery.  The proceeds for this
auction will be donated to the scholarship fund and the silent auction will
allow people to contribute in a manner that is both personal and helpful
during our annual meeting.  Gift certificates are welcome from business,
especially those working with forest crafts.  Bring your item when you
register, fill out a silent auction form and let the bidding begin. CANNOT
ATTEND, but wish to share?

Burr Oak Resort
Attn. NNFP Meeting
c/o Cathi Jones
10660 Burr Oak Lodge Road
Glouster, OH 45732
Taken from Herbalgram's 2005 Calendar of Events
(http://www.herbalgram.org/default.asp?c=calendar)

Healthy Harvest Show. San Jose, CA. The Healthy
http://www.healthyharvestshow.com/Attendees/Main.html.
Harvest Show is co-sponsored by NNFA (National Nutritional Foods
Association)-West, the regional trade association representing natural
products industry members located in the states of California, Hawaii,
Nevada and Arizona. It is expected to feature over 200 exhibitors of
organic and natural foods and products, dietary supplements, HBA, sports
nutrition, natural remedies, health books, and more. Membership in
NNFA-West is not a requirement for attending the Healthy Harvest Show,
although certain functions and events may be limited to current members of
NNFA-West (on-site instant membership applications will be available).
Phone: 805-646-4246. Web site: September 30-October 2:

IV FUNDING

ANNOUNCING A NEW GRANT PROGRAM
www.sandcounty.net
      Request for Proposals: From Sand County Foundation's Community Based
Conservation Network

      Outcomes of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) are
fundamentally influenced by rights and resource values. If landholder
      communities have secure land and resource use rights; and the
resource to be jointly managed by a community of landholder's has value to
them;
      then the likelihood of conservation and livelihood outcomes is
increased.
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