[MPWG] ginseng in the news

Jean Giblette hfg at capital.net
Sun Sep 8 10:10:53 CDT 2013


This is indeed an excellent discussion, because we are getting into issues of ownership, land tenure, habitat loss and climate change -- all intertwined and calling for new, progressive policies that reward honest land stewards.

I've believed for a long time that Bob is pointing the way in advocating that wild cultivators document, declare--and perhaps eventually insure?--their plants.  In order to remediate (to restore the biodiversity and resiliency of) land, those who plant and tend perennial polycultures must be compensated.  With Bob's guidance I've planted several ginseng test plots on my small (2.5 acre) wooded holding.  But also I am planting (ginseng and other species) on the lands of friends when I find a likely spot.  They will let me come in and harvest the seeds, and the risk I run is that they move out and sell the property.  For protection, I need a couple of innovations here.  One is a wild cultivator's certification system (thanks, Eric!), and the second is a legal document that resurrects the medieval European concept of usufruct -- defining my right of ownership of the seeds and other products of the plants I plant and tend on other people's property.

This is the kind of empowerment we must create to incentivize people to do all the work required to meet climate change.  I look around at all the land owned by wealthy individuals in my county, land that's kept in pasture with no animals grazing plus forests with no understory.  It looks lovely, but it's a desert from a biodiversity point of view.  Once the sugar maples die off it WILL be a desert, unless we start right now to plant a variety of appropriate, adaptive species.

In other words, spend public funds on the carrot and not the stick.  Where is the policy vision, or am I all alone here?

Jean


On Sep 6, 2013, at 1:54 PM, Robert Layton Beyfuss wrote:

> Hi All
> I have attached a letter that I am considering sending to CBS about their "news" story. I don't mean to glorify poachers at all, but there is a difference between poaching and stealing.
> Bob
> From: MPWG [mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] on behalf of MoonBranch Botanicals [moonbranch at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 12:53 PM
> To: mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org
> Cc: Jessica Bernier; Frank T. Adams
> Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news
> 
> Where to start…
>  
> For sure, as in many contemporary issues, this “situation” is what happens when a complex and multi-faceted issues meets a 30 second sound/video bite passed off as “news” by the MSM. Unfortunately (and perhaps striking more closely to “the root” of the problem) a 30 second allotment meets the expected attention span of most of their viewers, so I can’t put all the blame on the media I suppose.
>  
> That said, UPS shares a most valid concern with all, or at least most of us in this community. While plants in general do not elicit the same “warm and fuzzy” feeling in the so-called environmental community as do the “charismatic mega-fauna” like the bald eagle or perhaps the timber wolf, American ginseng is perhaps our best candidate in terms of reaching “charismatic mega-flora” status. Now if we could just all focus on how best to use that status to sustain it in the wild.
>  
> Once again, I find myself beating on the “policy does not work” drum. Unfortunately, policy as a management tool is all our bureaucrats and technocrats understand. The use of force and the threat of use of force is not only undesirable in terms of effecting long term change, it is costly, ineffective and unsustainable. Consider for a moment the failed “war on drugs”, Prohibition, and the illegality of prostitution as a few prime examples for comparison here. In all cases the negative fallout from “unintended consequences” were and are far worse than the social ills that the policies were put in place to remedy. The prevailing prohibition policy thinking in our society never solves any problems or social ill, it only serves as a mechanism in forcing them to retreat to the shadowy recesses of societal fringes where they “metastasize” and get really, really ugly. Too bad that only treating the symptoms of our problems is the order of our day.
>  
> I believe Thoreau got it right in this, as he did with most things, when he stated: “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” I for one believe it is high time to do some root cause analysis here. Is that too much to ask? Or is it, as an approach, too grounded in logic, common sense, and realism to be considered? OR, perhaps is there here, as in many areas, another agenda at play? I have to ask…
>  
> Perhaps it is simply just too profitable for some of our “leaders” to resist supplying state, federal, and local governments with tax dollars for armored personnel carriers, guns, ammo, night vision, GPS units, body armor, uniforms, and on and on in the name of protecting the Natural World from us, along with us from each other. Is it, much as in the warning contained in President Eisenhower’s farewell address regarding a then newly emerging “military-industrial complex”, that poachers and poaching are just another point of profit for the state and their corporate minions feeding a very well documented “prison/judicial industrial complex”? Has “corporatism” (fascism really) so engulfed the political system of our Nation that policy is enacted with expectation for profit and not much else? I have to ask as I see no other reason for the insane continuation of such a short-sighted and ineffective way to affect change and steer human behavior.
>  
> There are many productive ways to address this and many issues of our time. All of them require the establishment of an open dialogue and active participation of ALL stakeholders. This is, and will continue to be the only way to safeguard our future, the future of American ginseng along with a broader total bio-diversity, and indeed our planet.
>  
> In closing, pragmatism forces me to touch briefly on the subject of cultivation. By “cultivation” I am referring to the intentional growing of ginseng (or anything really) in a landscape or scenario greatly altered to maximize the production of one, or perhaps just a few species. While I do believe that cultivation in the narrow sense as just stated has its place, it is not the answer. Consider this on your next visit to the zoo of your choosing. Is relegating the plants of the world to some carefully controlled, yet contrived existence really your vision for our future? Of what is sustainable?
>  
> If not, then let us join forces through a voluntary marketplace to build value, both economic and abstract, for all life, before we reach a point where we cannot or perhaps will not be “allowed” to turn this ship around.
>  
>  
> Respectfully submitted for due consideration and with the most benevolent of intents,
> Robin
>  
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Colin Donohue 
> Sent: Sep 5, 2013 8:28 PM 
> To: Jeanine Davis 
> Cc: mpwg 
> Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news 
> 
> Absolutely.
> 
> That would be great. I regret I'm not in the role I once was, but this issue is still dear to my heart. 
> 
> A meeting of the minds, and forging of common strategies and efforts could be a great thing in both stewarding 'sang in the wild and supporting lifeways of the responsible ginseng stewards and harvesters out there. 
> 
> C
> 
> 
> On 9/5/2013 8:23 PM, Jeanine Davis wrote:
>> On an open forum all I am willing to say is that I am not amused and this story could have been more accurate and hopeful. We do need to brainstorm on strategies to reduce poaching to conserve wild populations and encourage more wild simulated production.  I have some ideas, that are built on consumer demand and pressure.
>> Jeanine
>> Jeanine Davis, Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
>> Dept. of Horticultural Science, NC State University
>> website: ncherb.org
>> Sent from my Droid
>> On Sep 5, 2013 7:46 PM, "Michael McGuffin" <MMcguffin at ahpa.org> wrote:
>> Hello Colin,
>> I could not agree with you more that the information presented by Robert Eidus was unfortunate, at best. But Susan Leopold was exactly correct in calling attention to the very limited resources that are applied to plant conservation. This was an important message, and an appropriate message from United Plant Savers.
>>  
>> Michael
>>  
>> Michael McGuffin
>> President
>> American Herbal Products Association | www.ahpa.org
>> 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 918 | Silver Spring | MD | 20910
>> MD Phone: 301.588.1171 x201
>> CA Phone: 310.745.8401
>>  
>> 30+ years of working for you!
>>  
>> From: MPWG [mailto:mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Colin Donohue
>> Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 3:02 PM
>> To: Susan Leopold
>> Cc: mpwg
>> Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news
>>  
>> This is great, other than being wrong. 
>> 
>> I'm amused to see Robert Eidus as the spokesperson for the survivability of Ginseng. It will be gone in 10-20 years?   That's idiotic.  
>> 
>> I'm sure Mr. Eidus didn't mean what he was cast as saying on the clip, but it's still incorrect information. 
>> 
>> 
>> I'm very disappointed to see UPS trumpeting this incorrect and sensationalized clip. 
>> 
>> Yes, there are issues with ginseng harvest, and I'd be the first to shout from the mountaintop that poaching is a real issue that needs attention, and that more resources should go into plant conservation. But putting incorrect information out to spur public concern is disingenuous. 
>> 
>> Colin
>> 
>> On 9/5/2013 5:15 PM, Susan Leopold wrote:
>> United Plant Savers has started a change.org letter to bring awareness to our members and the public and to show various agencies that the public cares and supports ginseng conservation efforts....
>>  
>> Below is a link to the CBS story and to our change.org letter, also you can go to the UpS website www.unitedplantsavers.orgfor links to several recent news articles and ginseng recently published research.
>>  
>> Please join this campaign: http://chn.ge/15Eon5H
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57601454/ginseng-poaching-threatens-survival-of-plant-species/
>>  
>> Susan Leopold, PhD
>> Executive Director, UpS
>> 703-667-0208
>> susan at unitedplantsavers.org
>>  
>>  
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  
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>>  
>> 
>> 
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>> 
>> Disclaimer
>> Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc. reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.                                                    
> 
> Robin Alton Suggs
> MoonBranch Botanicals
> 5294 Yellow Creek Road
> Robbinsville, North Carolina 28771 
> USA
> 
> Telephone: 828.479.2788
> Email: moonbranch at earthlink.net
> Websites:
> www.moonbranch.com  &  www.localharvest.org/store/M16074
> 
> Member:
> Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project; Farm Partner
> Green Products Alliance 
> North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines 
> North Carolina Goodness Grows/NCDA&CS 
> United Plant Savers
> 
> There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. - Henry David Thoreau
> 
> 
> <Dear CBS News.docx>
> _______________________________________________
> PCA's Medicinal Plant Working Group mailing list
> MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
> http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org
> 
> To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
> 
> Disclaimer
> Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc. reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.                                                    

Jean Giblette, Owner
HIGH FALLS GARDENS
Box 125 Philmont NY 12565
518-672-7365, hfg at capital.net
www.highfallsgardens.net




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