[MPWG] Man Sentenced To 22 Weeks In Jail For Poaching Ginseng From Great Smoky Mountains National Park

[De Angelis, Patricia]

It is not legal to dig American ginseng in a National Park. "It is legal to
harvest ginseng outside the park on private lands [following the permission
requirements of the State] or with a permit in certain Forest Service areas
during the harvesting season."

Man Sentenced To 22 Weeks In Jail For Poaching Ginseng From Great Smoky
Mountains National Park

Submitted by NPT Staff
<http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/users/npt-staff> on September 1, 2014
- 1:38am

A North Carolina man convicted four times for digging or possessing ginseng
plants in Great Smoky Mountains National Park <http://www.nps.gov/grsm>
will spend 22 weeks in jail for his latest conviction.

Federal authorities say U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Howell sentenced
Billy Joe Hurley, 46, of Bryson City, N.C., to serve five months and 15
days in jail for the illegal possession or harvesting of American ginseng
from the park.

“Illegally harvesting American ginseng from federally protected land areas
poses a serious danger to a plant that is part of our national heritage. It
is also a crime, and my office will continue to work closely with National
Park Service Rangers to prosecute poachers who profit from the illegal
harvesting and sale of this endangered national resource,” said Anne M.
Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in a
press release.

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/09/man-sentenced-22-weeks-jail-poaching-ginseng-great-smoky-mountains-national-park25584
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