[MPWG] plant salvage: confessions of a trespasser

Fri Sep 2 11:48:17 CDT 2005

Thanks for your comments Edward.

A local criminal I know recently rescued over 1500 American ginseng plants from a housing development location, the site is being bulldozed now.  The plants were relocated in part to public land and in part to private land.  Some might call this poaching but to me, it is an act of kindness.

My own criminal behavior I'm sorry to confess recently rescued hundreds of black cohosh, wild yam, mitchella, trilium, and a few ginseng from one of my state's DOT road expansion projects, we were unfortunately not able to save the trees nor several stands of pink lady slippers.  I confess quite ashamedly that the plants we did take are now located on the grounds of a local elementary school environmental center, and doing well. 

A local bunch of criminals additionally moved literally an acre of goldenseal a couple years ago when Interstate 99 was placed in a highly questionable location which is now resulting in serious consequences for the local watershed (pyrite contamination).  Some of the plants are thriving now on the grounds of a local historical site owned by the Centre County (PA) Historical Society.

It's scandalous, I know, but it is a sort of addiction, not wanting to see wild things destroyed.  

I know it's breaking the law, and that it's not okay to encourage trespassing.  I know people probably use salvage as justification to poach plants that aren't really in jeopardy of being destroyed.  But the fact is, we are living in an era that is starting to see the culmination of quite a bit of destructive behavior.  When you know and love a local area and you know it is about to be bulldozed for a road, or malled, or otherwise used without regard to the life being housed in that space, it feels like a sin to sit back and let the bulldozers rage.  Non-violence demands action, it is not a passive art.  But clandestine salvage effective though it sometimes is definitely should not replace working to change the law.

When I was doing archeaology for the state we used to walk pretty much a week or two in front of the bulldozers for any state project -- usually for road expansion in my state Pennsylvania which has more road miles than any other state in the U.S.  We would drop test pits, record our finds, pick up what we could, and then it would be destroyed anyway.  The only thing that could potentially stop a project was if we found burial sites, because the native Americans finally got a law to restrict exhuming their ancestor's graves passed in 1990.  The archeaology we did was a requirement under NEPA, which guarentees protection of our cultural heritage, among other things.  So, there is precident for at least trying to salvage before the state destroys.  It's a great idea  -- I believe it would take an ammendment to the NEPA specifically requesting plant salvage for at least federally-funded projects.  Is there a supportive congressperson or persons who would write and champion an ammendment?

At the above mentioned elementary school environmental center, we did programs with local at-risk youth -- boys who were sent either by their parents or by the state to a juvenile center.  They came out and worked with us creating at least the beginnings of a botanical trail and a few nature center outdoor classroom sites on the EC grounds.  It could be that botanical salvage could be done as community service hours for juvenile offenders, paroled and/or prison laborers.  Also, of course, making it easier for civilian volunteers, native plant societies etc. to acquire the necessary permissions would be a good step.

Kind regaqrds,
Jennifer Chesworth
www.herbalistswithoutborders.org  

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward J Fletcher <Efletcher at skybest.com>
To: myron <MPWG-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org>; MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
Sent: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 11:43:14 -0400
Subject: RE: [MPWG] yet another reminder...

Myron and MPWG Members,

I agree whole heartedly Myron and can easily say that Habitat
destruction is the #1 cause for loss of our flora & fauna!
A simply analogy is a 'bull dozer can destroy more plants in ONE hour
than a man could dig in a week'.
How can WE address this. Obviously we cannot stop "progress", but we can
act locally to rescue these plants in the way of "progress". Plant them
in our yards or replant them back in nature in a protected area. The
fauna, some anyway, can flee but plants are rooted in and cannot fle by
themselves. They need our help.
I personally have been involved in many 'rescue' projects and after
addressing liability issues, the doors open for the rescue to happen.
Unfortunately I have also seen endangered plants listed on CITES
destroyed because they would not grant us permission to rescue them. And
if we had dug them we would be breaking the law. Not quite sure how to
bridge this gap, but some how "progress" must be qualified at what
expense.
I would like to see all State and Federal Highway projects mandated to
allow 'rescue' of flora & fauna with parameters. The initial planning is
usually done years in advance and once the surveys are complete and the
boundaries are visibiy marked to stay within.

Thank you for reading my comments and hope it sheds some light and
speaks for those who cannot talk, the plants!

Edward J. Fletcher
Strategic Sourcing, Inc.
Botanical Division, C.O.O.
115 Snow Ridge Road
Banner Elk, NC 28604 USA
828.898.7642
Fax.898.7647
Efletcher at StrategicSourcingInc.net
<mailto:Efletcher at StrategicSourcingInc.net>
www.StrategicSourcingInc.net <http://www.StrategicSourcingInc.net>

    -----Original Message-----
    From: myron
    Sent: 9/1/2005 1:47 PM
    To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
    Subject: [MPWG] yet another reminder...

    Given that Half of the top Six selling herbs listed at the
bottom are endemic to Appalachia, I am wondering to what degree habitat
destruction may be contributing to the decline?  We have talked before
about what role wildlife management or lack thereof may be contributing
to the loss of ginseng, but I am deeply concerned about the role of
development or, say, mountain top removal and the dumping of
"overburden" into the watershed may do to disrupt the soil conditions
that have taken millenia to establish. Please DO NOT mistake this as a
deflection of responsibility.  The sustainability issues put forth in
the article below are critical, I believe, but I am wondering what such
blatant disregard of the environment sets as a psychological precedent.
We may be talking orders of magnitude.

    http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/index2.php
    (scroll down for a "sense of place")

    myron

    **************************************************************
    August 20, 2005
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8125-1741056_1,00.html

    So where have all the flowers gone . . .
    by Frances Ive
    . . . We¹ve used them up in remedies. Herbal medicine needs to
be sustainable

    It is one of those days we¹ve had a lot of this summer, bursts
of sunshine punctuated by downpours. When the sun comes out the colours
of the herbs come into their own < the brilliant orange of marigolds,
bright red poppies and beautiful lavender flowers laced with the
wonderfully aromatic scents of sage, rosemary and thyme.

    Above all there is an overwhelming sense of tranquillity
punctuated only by the sounds of birds, bees and the sight of the odd
rabbit hopping around.

    The scene is Weleda UK¹s 15-acre (6-hectare) plot of herbs near
Ilkeston, in Derbyshire, where the company, which produces natural-
health products, grows more than 300 species for use in herbal and
homoeopathic remedies, toothpastes, shampoos, lotions and potions.
Growing its own ensures freshness, availability and sustainability.

    The Derbyshire rabbits aren¹t too popular with Weleda¹s head
gardener, Michael Bate, because they dig up whole plants to get their
food. But rabbits aren¹t the biggest threat to the planet¹s herbs < we
are.

    A report last year by Plantlife International, the wild plant
conservation charity, claimed that the £11 billion global herbal
medicine industry is causing 4,000 to 10,000 herbs worldwide to become
endangered. Unfortunately, the majority of the herbal medicine industry
are not doing their bit to ensure survival and Weleda is one of just a
few natural-health products companies growing its own and buying from
sustainable sources.

    An astonishing 80 per cent of the world¹s population relies on
herbal medicine as their primary healthcare. Often the cost of drugs is
far beyond the reach of many in the Third World but also, in many cases,
local cultures have a long tradition of using herbal medicines that have
served them well over the years.

    In the UK we spent £87 million on herbal remedies in 2004,
according to the market research group Mintel, which was an increase of
more than 56 per cent on 1999 < with no let-up in annual growth. And all
kinds of herbs traditionally used by medicine men, native tribes and
Indian and Chinese doctors are now commonly available on the shelves of
our local health-food store.

    While many of us may applaud ourselves for embracing a natural
lifestyle, the Plant- life report also claims that two thirds of the
50,000 medicinal plants used in the herbal industry are harvested from
the wild, and herbalists talk of varieties that are no longer available
at all.

    It is almost impossible to police the harvesting of herbs around
the world unless communities choose to do it themselves or herbal
companies set up sustainability projects.

    The Sioux Indians of South Dakota have used echinacea for
hundreds of years to fight infection and to heal wounds and snake bites.
When they collect the plants, to prevent the extinction of the species,
they never pick the first one they see in case it is the only one of its
kind left. Unfortunately, not everyone has such high ideals and
echinacea is being illegally harvested even in protected areas in the
United States.

    Duncan Ross of Poyntzfield Nurseries, on the Black Isle, north
of Inverness, is a biodynamic horticulturist who grows several
endangered species there. ³Anyone with a sense of sustainability will
pick only a small proportion of the seeds they find with the landowner¹s
permission,² he says. ³But people who are simply in it for a quick buck
do a lot of damage.²

    Endangered herbs cited in the Plantlife report include arnica,
popularly used in homoeopathic remedies for bruising; goldenseal,
prescribed for digestive problems and wound healing; American ginseng,
traditionally an aphrodisiac but now more usually dispensed to boost
energy levels; and liquorice, often used in herbal and conventional
medicines for stomach ulcers. The commonly known kitchen herbs, oregano
and thyme, are also being overharvested in some areas for their
medicinal properties.

    It is often the type of harvesting that can cause problems. In
the case of bearberry, or Uva ursi, a herb used to treat bladder
conditions, only the leaves are required but the whole plant is uprooted
for expedience. This happens commonly and as Ross explains: ³If you pick
the whole plant it doesn¹t seed again or regenerate.²

    Most herbs grow easily in different climates and echinacea
thrives even in the UK, but some of the most endangered species require
considerable expertise, perfect soil conditions and the right climate.
And many of them take several years of nurturing before they are ready
to harvest.

    Poyntzfield grows arnica on the highest point of the Black Isle
to supply Weleda and medical herbalists. ³It needs time and patience,
and requires a sunny site with well drained soil, but because it is an
alpine plant the snow and frost suit it well,² says Ross. ³Goldenseal is
harvested illegally in the Appalachian mountains for its golden root. We
grow it here but it takes seven years to yield a crop.²

    The report by Plantlife was critical of UK herbal manufacturers
because most of them buy from unsustainable sources. It also claims that
whenever there is a shortage of a particular herb, some companies buy
plants on the open market that have invariably been picked in the wild
without concern for sustainability, often because poor communities
depend on selling them for their livelihood.

    The kind of project environmentalists are keen to see is that
adopted by the Swiss herbal manufacturer Bioforce, which grows most of
its own herbs in Switzerland and claims to simply run out of stocks
rather than buy on the open market.

    Bioforce used to buy devil¹s claw on the open market but it
recognised that random harvesting would soon cause extinction < since 15
million plants are being pulled up out of the Kalahari Desert every
year. The clamour is all for the plant¹s tuber, which is traditionally
used by local tribes to treat digestive problems but is now much valued
in the West as an anti-inflammatory for arthritis and other joint and
muscle pain.

    Jen Tan, Bioforce UK¹s medical director, says: ³Because the
local tribes are poor and exploited by merchants, they try to get as
much as possible from the plants which are hard to dig out of the
desert. Devil¹s claw takes four years or more to mature, so it is
extremely difficult for local growers to cultivate it without some
injection of outside investment.

    ³After several years of research and the cultivation of devil¹s
claw on an experimental farm in the desert, we have set up a local
farmer with land, finance and housing to grow it for us on a sustainable
farm on the South African border with Namibia,² says Ten.

    The National Institute of Medical Herbalists is already drawing
up guidelines for its 700 members advising that they use only herbs from
sustainable sources. The institute also favours wildcrafting < picking
from the wild only where it is known that herbs are not endangered.

    There are encouraging signs that the industry is getting its act
together slowly and in the past few years the UK company Viridian has
launched its own range of 20 organic herbal tinctures, home-grown in
Herefordshire, including echinacea, ginkgo and motherwort. Cheryl
Thallon, of Viridian, says: ³We always want to check the full provenance
of the herbs we stock and, ideally, to watch the seeds growing in the
ground.²

    To find a herbalist, contact the National Institute of Medical
Herbalists, 01392 426022, www.nimh.org.uk

    To become a member of Plantlife International call 01722 342730,
or visit www.plantlife.org.uk

    You can visit Poyntzfield Nurseries on the Black Isle: one-hour
tours run once a month in June, July, August, call 01381 610352, or
visit www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk

    Herbal rules

    The EU Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive will come
into effect on October 31. To register their products, manufacturers
have until 2011 to produce a dossier that proves the efficacy of the
remedies or they will no longer be able to sell them in the EU. This is
good news for consumers. Some herbal remedies can be dangerous if taken
in unregulated quantities or with other medication. But it may not be
such good news for small companies. ³It is very expensive to produce
these dossiers,² says David Belshaw of Bioforce UK. ³Larger companies
like us are all right, but for some smaller companies the future is
bleak.²

    Top selling herbs

    St John¹s wort < for skin wounds and depression.

    Echinacea < for infections, colds, flu and snake bites.

    Gingko biloba < for circulation and memory.

    Ginger root < for travel sickness and nausea.

    Black cohosh < for menopausal symptoms.

    Ginseng < for energy and as a libido booster.

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