[MPWG] ginseng decline

[Jim McGraw]

To those concerned about ginseng decline...

There is quite a bit of active work going on with wild populations of 
American ginseng, with groups in North Carolina, Tennessee, West 
Virginia, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Missouri, Quebec and Maryland 
studying various aspects (there may well be others I do not know 
about).  I cannot speak for the collective research community, but 
our group at West Virginia University has a rather comprehensive 
population analysis underway, ranging over 8 states, 36 populations, 
and several thousand plants.  Some of this work has been published, 
and the work emphasizing the threat of deer overpopulation has 
received the most publicity (McGraw and Furedi 2005.  Science 
307:920-922).  However, our study is much broader than this.  We are 
very interested in harvester effects, regional variation in 
viability, effects of invasive species, effects of logging, effects 
of cross-breeding with cultivated genotypes and availability of 
habitat.  The Fish & Wildlife service will be hosting a ginseng 
conference this coming winter, an important step in the ongoing 
process of reviewing what we know and what research remains to be 
done.  Land use history and land use changes may well be one of those 
understudied areas.

Continuity in demographic monitoring of natural ginseng populations 
will continue to be a challenge as it is not particularly sexy 
science by itself.

The only other thing I would add is that we focus a lot on ginseng in 
these discussions, but there are many other wild harvested species 
out there being virtually neglected.  We should be concerned about 
all of these valuable forest resources.

Best wishes, Jim McGraw
-- 
*************************************************************************************************************************************
"Beyond all plans and programs, true conservation is ultimately 
something of the mind-an ideal of those who cherish their past and 
believe in their future.  Our civilization will be measured by its 
fidelity to this ideal as surely as by its art and poetry and system 
of justice."

-Udall, 1963

James B. McGraw,  Eberly Professor of Biology
Dept. of Biology, P. O. Box 6057
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV  26506-6057
Phone: 304-293-5201 x 31532

Office: Room 5204, Life Sciences Building
Lab:  Room 5209/5211
Dept. web page: http://www.as.wvu.edu/biology
JBM's web page: http://www.as.wvu.edu/biology/faculty/mcgraw.html
JBM's extensive personal web page: 
http://www.as.wvu.edu/biology/faculty/JBMPersonalSite/index.html