[MPWG] AHPA Submits Comments on Special Forest Products andProposed Fees

[penny at pinenut.com]

Press Release For Immediate ReleaseDoes AHPA track of certified organic product sold?

 Thank you for posting this.
Penny
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karen Robin 
  To: mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org 
  Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 12:14 PM
  Subject: [MPWG] AHPA Submits Comments on Special Forest Products andProposed Fees


  AHPA Submits Comments on Special Forest Products and Proposed Fees

   

  (January 25, 2008) - The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has submitted comments to the USDA Forest Service in response to that agency's proposed rule governing the sale and disposal of nontimber forest products that are harvested on National Forest System lands. The proposed rule, which was issued last October, sets requirements for the Forest Service to monitor such harvests and ensure that they occur at sustainable levels, and establishes programs for collection of fees from harvesters.  

   

  "Our National Forests and National Grasslands provide many commercially valuable plants to the trade," said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. "AHPA and its members are committed to sustainable use of our plant resources and we applaud the Forest Service for its management efforts. We are also supportive of reasonable fees that can be used to manage those resources, but those fees must be established at levels that do not disrupt the income of individual collectors and other small businesses that are engaged in sustainable harvest operations." 

   

  Among its comments to the Forest Service, AHPA suggested that fees for harvested forest products be calculated at the point of harvest, rather than further along the distribution or value-added chain, and that these fees should be 3 percent of each product's value at the point of harvest. AHPA also suggested that existing resources should be used in both monitoring and pricing activities. These include AHPA's tonnage surveys, the AHPA/AHP Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Herbal Raw Materials(1), and the ISSC-MAP(2).

   

  The Federal Register notice for the Forest Service's proposed rule can be downloaded at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-20658.pdf.

   

  AHPA's comments are available are at: http://www.ahpa.org/Portals/0/pdfs/08_0122_AHPAComments_USFS.pdf.

   

   

  Notes:

  1) Jointly published in December 2006 by AHPA and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, this document is available at http://www.ahpa.org/portals/0/pdfs/06_1208_AHPA-AHP_GACP.pdf.

  2) International Standards for Sustainable wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, available at http://www.floraweb.de/proxy/floraweb/MAP-pro/Standard_Version1_0.pdf

   

   



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