American Ginseng Poaching in US National Parks
Illegal Harvest Threatens North American Medicinal Plant Used in TCM
Oct 28, 2009
More American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) is exported than any other wild-harvested native medicinal plant. Poachers stand to make a significant profit from the sale of ginseng root, which has a market value of several hundred US dollars per pound.
And poachers are scouring the woods of several national parks to find mature ginseng. But mature ginseng plants are needed to produce seeds if the species is to continue to exist in the wild.
Farmed, Wild Harvest and Wild-simulated Ginseng
Problems with insects and mold make intensive farming difficult without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. The use of chemicals also undermines the value of the plants as natural medicine. Some Traditional Chinese herbalists find cultivated ginseng less effective and prefer to pay premium price for wild or for wild-simulated plants.
Wild-simulated ginseng plants are grown in smaller numbers in natural wooded areas where the wild herb would normally be found. This method balances the need to cultivate more American ginseng with efforts to use only plants that have not been exposed to chemical treatment. Wild ginseng is just that, plants that exist in the wild. Many national parks in the United States have natural wild ginseng, which is protected by law.
Poaching Threatens Both Wild and Wild-simulated American Ginseng
In 2009, National Park Service rangers made arrests in both Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, after poachers were caught digging American ginseng plants within park boundaries. Poachers were also reported in along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the same year.
And this does not take into account poaching that is occurring in private forested areas, which is also contributing to the decline of the species. Many private lands have wild ginseng. Others are being used for legal wild-simulated production but poachers are taking these plants as well.
Slow Growth Increases Risk of Extinction
American ginseng requires five years to reach maturity and in areas where the plants are heavily harvested the remaining plants had smaller leaf areas and produced fewer seeds, emphasizing the importance of mature plants and careful management, in retaining the quality of American ginseng.
As poachers take mature plants from the wild, seeds for the next generation of American ginseng are lost. Wild-simulated harvesting allows for growers to take mature plants but return the seeds to the soil, thus ensuring both their ongoing business and the existence of American ginseng.
The use of animal parts such as rhino or saiga antelope horn and bear bile in Traditional Chinese Medicine has been linked with poaching problems. American ginseng has joined the list of species put at risk by unscrupulous taking for illegal trade.
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