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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Thanks for sending Pat. This also made MSN News
<a href="http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/feds-jail-ginseng-poacher-as-wild-plants-face-risk">
http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/feds-jail-ginseng-poacher-as-wild-plants-face-risk</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Marla<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> MPWG [mailto:mpwg-bounces@lists.plantconservation.org]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>De Angelis, Patricia<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 3, 2014 8:30 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> mpwg<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [MPWG] Man Sentenced To 22 Weeks In Jail For Poaching Ginseng From Great Smoky Mountains National Park<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">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."<o:p></o:p></p>
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<h1>Man Sentenced To 22 Weeks In Jail For Poaching Ginseng From Great Smoky Mountains National Park<o:p></o:p></h1>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Submitted by
<a href="http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/users/npt-staff" title="View user profile.">
NPT Staff</a> on September 1, 2014 - 1:38am<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">A North Carolina man convicted four times for digging or possessing ginseng plants in
<a href="http://www.nps.gov/grsm">Great Smoky Mountains National Park</a> will spend 22 weeks in jail for his latest conviction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">“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.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/09/man-sentenced-22-weeks-jail-poaching-ginseng-great-smoky-mountains-national-park25584">http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/09/man-sentenced-22-weeks-jail-poaching-ginseng-great-smoky-mountains-national-park25584</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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