
I feel the need to respond on the subjects covered in J.N. Covane's post. Some excellent ideas there, as far as making the native medicinals a more viable and sustainable part of local economies, I think. Overall, I think this is the start of a great plan.

I work on a hunting preserve, and there are a few of them in this area. Hunters don't often look for native medicinals, mostly they look for deer (this is the area of the famous "Albia Deer"), pheasant, or chukar. Owners of hunting preserves, even though they are in charge of thousands of acres of land, are also a protective lot as a whole. They do "not" allow many poachers or trespassers on their environs, and are amazingly adept and keeping them out. I have been planting "wild gardens" throughout both the preserve I work for, and a neighboring one. I do wildcraft, always with an eye to propagating more than I take. It's amazingly easy to do, and in the time I have been doing this, have seen direct examples of the increase of native medicinals where I have been. To try to say I don't take an inordinate amount of pride in seeing this happen would be a bald-faced lie. Frankly, when I saw a plot of ginseng actually increase itself by half again (Gineng!! YO!), I think I about sprained my wrist patting myself on the back. It's one thing to see it with Amorpha or E. angustifolia (or even E. purpurea, since many poachers around here don't bother to distinguish) get a better hold, but ginseng has been my most gratifying, for obvious reasons.

Am not trying to claim I am making a big dent in the problem of medicinals loss, but I feel that doing what I do on a grassroots level, and getting others do it also, will make an appreciable difference in local populations.

I cannot speak for all hunting preserves, but the ones I know do not use chemicals on their lands. That is one reason I feel it a touch of blessing I stumbled into this work. I have a couple of concerns about the phrase, "modern horticultural methods", I would appreciate it if you would address them, please?

In my experience, "Modern" often means with chemical introduction: to reduce competing plants from "invading" the crop, to introduce fertilizers into the soil. "Modern" also seems to me, to be analogous to monocropping. Those two factors in modern methods seem to create circumstance wherein one becomes dependant on the other. 

I was deeply gratified to read of the idea of reserved areas for the native habitat preservation, a crucial factor in the plans you discuss.I am concerned, however, on the possible use of chemical practices and monocropping, in the area of economic crops, and the effects it would have in the surrounding areas and water.

I must admit to a bit of prejudice here, but I see such devastation in what once was prime soil, stemming from just those two things, in an area that once had some of the finest soil anywhere.  When I see and feel the soil in the cultivated fields, and compare it to the soil in the middle of a 400 acre plot that is wild, the difference is downright heartbreaking. However, the use of monocropping and chemical use is also affecting the "wild" areas to varying degrees.

In utilizing practices along the lines of Emelia Hazelip and Fukuoka, or other such practices, I am of the opinion that the native medicinals; the ones presently acknowledged and the ones soon to become "herb-of-the hour", will be much more sustainably allowed to repopulate areas now sparsely populated, and maintain the current populations where they are in balance. 

Please do not get the impression I am against the ideas you put forth, quite to the contrary. Am concerned about the ways in which the plans might be implemented. 

Would you be willing to address these two things?  Thank you!  deb
 
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:09:05 -0600
From: "botresearchusa" <botresearchusa@academicplanet.com>
Subject: [MPWG] Contribution of Biotechnology to in situ Conservation
To: "PCA's Medicinal Plant Working Group List"
	<MPWG@lists.plantconservation.org>
Message-ID: <000a01c3e836$147a1910$eb51fea9@botresearwv93z>
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Such a program might be found in this scenario. Botanical gardens would send members of their staff to these countries as consultants and teachers to train the locals in modern horticultural techniques and help them to set up sanctuaries or reserves. Universities would then be given grants to provide their students with scholarships or stipends for spending their summer months working under the direction of these consultants, thereby gaining practical experience, and helping the locals care for their fields and the reserves.

 

The locals would then  send either seed or seedlings to the botanical gardens for conservation, and the same to biotechnology firms for propagation. The biotechnology firms would then send stage II or III seedlings back to the locals to increase the populations in the reserves and to go into the locals fields. The locals then, under the direction of the botanical consultants, could form cooperatives to sell their goods on the open market. With the profits obtained from sales on the open market, a small amount would be sent to the botanical gardens as reimbursement for their services, and the same  amount sent to the biotechnology firms for their services. The majority of the profit from sales would be retained by the locals and their cooperatives to improve their standard of living. As this scenario is repeated, the population of these plant species  in the reserves grows, the fields are repopulated now from seedlings provided by the biotech companies instead of from wild populations ensuring a continued and growing supply, and the pride and standard of living for people in these third world nations attains new highs. Most important however, is the fact that now there is a proactive team approach with a spirit of  cooperation between factions and a  true trend towards reversal of  threatened species. 

In response to Dr. Leaman's post regarding Contribution of biotechnology to in situ conservation, I would suggest that we begin a discussion of this topic and get many opinions rather than a single view as I would perceive it.


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