[MPWG] ginseng in the news

Connie Kehler shsa at sasktel.net
Mon Sep 9 09:43:55 CDT 2013


Thanks Robert
  The only recourse we would have had in Ontario - was to have had the 
wild simulated growers on a program like our GACPs.. This along with 
your help would have proven that they were legit.  And OMNR was 
looking at that as an option but hindsight - sigh. 
  You are dead on - on the effect of the ban... There are good people 
out there that have been put in an impossible situation.  We need to 
learn from this. 
  Connie

 

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On Mon, 9 Sep 2013 14:38:52 +0000, Robert Layton Beyfuss  wrote:

         Dear Connie
  Thank you for posting. This is a classic example of what harm can 
occur when good intentions are not thought out. When Ontario abruptly 
decided to ban all ginseng harvest, I was immediately contacted by a 
number of woodland growers whom I had worked with for years, either 
consulting or selling seed. They immediately found themselves unable to 
sell their roots. I wrote letters telling the authorities that these 
folks were bona fide growers and could prove they had purchased seed 
and had grown their woodland ginseng. Indeed I had visited some of 
these growers and had inspected their beds. I was told that since wild 
simulated and truly wild ginseng were visually indistinguishable, what 
was to stop the growers from secretly buying truly wild ginseng and 
mixing it with their wild simulated?
  The intention of the ban was to protect wild ginseng, but in reality, 
the exact opposite occurred. The black market and the unscrupulous 
poachers who support it continued to dig and sell the wild roots. As 
everyone knows,  all the regulations regarding wild ginseng harvest 
are impossible to enforce and our border is easy to cross. The growers 
mostly gave up trying to grow it, since they had no legal market and 
the status of wild ginseng in Ontario went from scarce to extinct in 
many of its historical locations. Ginseng is far worse off in Ontario 
as a result of this well intentioned, but poorly thought out 
regulation. It is astonishing to me that regulators seem to think 
that by passing a ban, that a ban will actually occur. The only result 
was to create many new "criminals" who previously were honest people. 
When people are faced with a regulation that makes no sense and cannot 
be enforced, it only serves to breed contempt for all regulations. Here 
in NY we have had buyers openly advertising in local newspapers that 
they are buying wild ginseng up to a month before the season opens . A 
simple perusal of Ebay shows diggers offering freshly dug, wild NY 
ginseng 3 weeks before the season opens. Numerous reports of this 
misbehavior to both state in federal authorities by at least a dozen 
individuals, whom I know personally, has had no effect. No one has 
been prosecuted.   

-------------------------
From: MPWG [mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] on behalf of 
Connie Kehler [shsa at sasktel.net]
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 10:03 AM
To: Susan; Jeanine Davis; MoonBranch Botanicals
Cc: mpwg
Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news

    On the issue of overharvesting of wild ginseng. 
   
  We in Canada have had an over reaction in Ontario.  Many and in my 
humble opinion most of the wild ginseng in Ontario and much of Quebec 
has been planted by traditional pickers - not actual wild ginseng.  
There is also growers that plant ginseng in the wild and then harvest 
their own root that they have planted up to 10 years later. 
   
  The issue is can they prove it is theirs not true wild ginseng.  In 
Quebec wild ginseng growers have documented their plantings and 
informed the authorities so they can prove ownership. Ontario was not 
so organized and thus when the Ontario ministry of natural resourses 
decided to without consultation make harvesting etc of ginseng 
illegal  - both field planted ginseng and forest planted ginseng 
became illegal. 
   
  Because Ontario field ginseng growers have an organization  - they 
were able to get an exempt.  Wild planted ginseng growers were not so 
lucky. 
  We have and are working with both growers and governments to get 
practices in place to ensure that if they plant ginseng in the wild 
they can still harvest their own roots. 
  We have worked with CITES in Canada on ensuring that decisons about 
endangered plants are based in fact.  Not all wildcrafters rape and 
pilage.  Many are generational pickers that care for the the plants so 
their grandchildren still have the resource.  Unfortunately they often 
get clumped in with those who do not take care. 
   
  Often the overharvest of plant are spurged by some overstated 
overenthusiastic study that takes the highest price of the plant and 
multiply that with the largest volumes to make it look like a fortune 
would be made by simply wandering into the wild and picking plants for 
free. 
   
  It is important to protect the plants and ensure they are not 
endangered but we need to do so with thought ...... the facts are 
important and we must ensure that this is the basis we work from - on 
all sides. 
   
  Connie Kehler
   

 

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On Mon, 9 Sep 2013 00:23:33 -0400 (GMT-04:00), MoonBranch Botanicals  wrote:

        And be careful.... 
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/11-2

       -----Original Message-----
From: Susan
Sent: Sep 8, 2013 5:11 PM
To: Jeanine Davis
Cc: mpwg
Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news

Yes the time is now to speak up. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 8, 2013, at 3:32 PM, Jeanine Davis  wrote:

         Oh Randi, how dreadful...and now they want to frack in NC, 
too. This all makes me so angry. I do think it is time for more of us 
scientists to speak up. 
  Jeanine
  Jeanine Davis, Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Dept. of Horticultural Science, NC State University
website: ncherb.org
Sent from my Droid
  On Sep 8, 2013 3:19 PM, "Randi Pokladnik"  wrote:

         Hi folks!
   
  I did my dissertation on poaching in 2008 and it is an issue in Ohio. 
I am worried now because we have out of state people swarming the area 
fracking! If the frack pads themselves and out of state vehicles 
(carrying invasives back and forth) are not bad enough, we have 
invasive people so to speak, crossing properties without any thought to 
privacy issues. We had one lady find dynamite charges set up on her 
land in Belmont county Ohio... she was going to build a house and took 
a walk around, the company claims it was all a big mistake but beware, 
I see fracking trucks withdrawing water illegally from hidden areas as 
well as the local MWCD lakes. This is so ridiculous! And then the earth 
quakes as well as spent frack fluid being poured out in wooded regions. 
  The medicinals seem to be off the radar as far as ODNR is concerned 
when it comes to getting out that natural gas. 
  Randi Pokladnik

         -----Original Message-----
From: MPWG [mailto:mpwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf 
Of Jeannie Dunn
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 9:05 AM
To: Colin Donohue
Cc: mpwg
Subject: Re: [MPWG] ginseng in the news

Colin and Jeanine,

  Thanks for all you have just put out there. Agreed. I really believe 
WNC residential and commercial development and periodic forest 
service/DOT maintenance probably do more damage to annihilate our 
herbal medicines in the area, more than poachers ever will. 
  I also think that we will still have ginseng in 10-20 years because 
the old-timers and their generations who harvest know how to 
proliferate the species as they harvest, scattering seeds and spreading 
roots. 
  It will be "wild cultivated" ginseng but it will still be considered 
wild. I believe Robert Eidus is trying to bring attention to the 
industry and he has a right to his opinion. I hope he's wrong and we 
can sustain our wild ginseng but if more people are moving into western 
NC and the developments sprawl outwards, we may not have much of a 
forest to grow it!

  Jeannie Dunn
   Red Moon Herbs
  828-301-3010

   On Sep 5, 2013, at 8:28 PM, Colin Donohue wrote:

         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"  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.org for 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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Posts do not reflect any official opinions or positions of the Plant 
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  Still Made the Wise Woman Way - Fresh, Sustainable, Local
  828-301-3010

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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

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