[PCA] ABSTRACT: Quantity and value of commercial moss harvest from forests of the Pacific Northwest and Appalachian regions of the U.S
Olivia Kwong
plant at plantconservation.org
Tue Jan 23 10:42:02 CST 2007
Here's the abstract of an article that Pat Ford of USFWS pointed out.
Look for the full article in your local university library or if you have
a subscription to BIOONE, it's available from their website.
The Bryologist
Article: pp. 197.214 | Full Text | PDF (118K)
Quantity and value of commercial moss harvest from forests of the Pacific
Northwest and Appalachian regions of the U.S
P. S. Muir, K. N. Norman, K. G. Sikes
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Cordley Hall 2082, Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR 97331-2902, U.S.A. e-mails: E-mail:
muirp at science.oregonstate.edu, E-mail: normank at science.oregonstate.edu,
E-mail: sikesk at lifetime.oregonstate.edu
The work reported here addresses two primary questions: (1) How much
"moss" (a mixture of mosses and liverworts) is harvested commercially from
forests in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Appalachian regions of the
U.S.? (2) What is the commercial value of this nontimber forest product?
Methods included surveying land managers, botanists and moss dealers,
querying U.S. government databases, and interviewing people involved in
the moss trade. Approximately 35% of land manager respondents issued
permits for moss harvest in the last five years. These reported that
permits were issued for an average of 4,009 (Appalachian) and 96,433 (PNW)
air-dry kg/yr of moss over the years 1997.2002, with a maximum reported
permitted harvest of 166,793 air-dry kg across both regions in the year
2000. Official U.S. Forest Service sources listed the maximum yearly
reported harvest for these regions as 115,661 air-dry kg in 2000 (PNW =
71,534 kg and Appalachians = 44,127 kg) and official Bureau of Land
Management sources for OR and WA listed the maximum permitted harvest as
54,978 air-dry kg in 2001. Yearly revenues from sales of commercial moss
harvest permits were reported to be . US$19,650. In contrast, estimates of
total harvests based on export data and assumptions about those data
suggest that the mean yearly harvest for the years 1998.2003 was between
4.6 and 18.4 million air-dry kg (yearly minimum and maximum estimated at
0.9 and 37.4 million air-dry kg, respectively). Moss sales (domestic plus
exports) are estimated to total between US$.6 million and 165 million per
year. The wide ranges in these estimates illustrate how little is known
about the moss harvest trade. In combination with lack of information
about the size of the moss inventory, reaccumulation rates, and species
and ecosystem functions potentially affected by harvest, results indicate
that policy makers and land managers lack critical information on which to
base harvest regulations.
Keywords: Nontimber forest products, special forest products, epiphytes,
moss export, sustainable harvest, harvest permits, florist trade,
decorative moss
Received: August 26, 2005; Accepted: January 25, 2006
DOI: 10.1639/0007-2745(2006)109[197:QAVOCM]2.0.CO;2
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