Plants & Their Friends with Robert Eidus originally aired on WART 95.5 FM.

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Rampant Poaching Threatens Ginseng’s Survival

Mountain Xpress, by Jake Frankel, September 3, 2013
www.mountainx.com/article/52426

Jim Corbin trudges up a steep hillside in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hunting ginseng. Each year, thousands of people scour the damp coves of Western North Carolina’s hardwood forests in search of the valuable herb; unlike most of them, however, Corbin isn’t driven by profit.

Instead of big collection bags, the plant-protection specialist and his 12 colleagues from the N.C. Department of Agriculture are armed only with small bottles of powdered yellow dye. On this cool morning, they spread out, painstakingly combing a slope that rises above the Oconaluftee River. Eventually they find a few of the leafy green perennials, dig them up and sprinkle dye on their roots.

They’ll continue this backcountry slog for the next several days, hoping to stain thousands of plants with the harmless dye to discourage poachers. Dealers, says Corbin, are alerted not to buy dyed roots, and the Department of Agriculture can test for the dye even if it’s been scrubbed off. It’s just one of many maneuvers in an ongoing battle to protect the species from extinction and find sustainable ways to harness its medicinal properties and economic potential.

But with wild ginseng root fetching upward of $800 a pound, untold numbers of poachers have taken to local forests, overwhelming meager law enforcement resources and leaving the plant’s survival in doubt.

Last year, Buncombe County led the state in ginseng production, with 1,268 pounds of dried roots, the Department of Agriculture reports. Haywood County came in second, with 1,074 pounds. Almost all of the 8,994 pounds harvested statewide came from WNC and eventually made its way to China. The state agency has no way to determine exactly how much of that was illegally harvested, but at $800 a pound, that translates into more than $7.1 million going into the pockets of those rummaging the hillsides.

Root of the problem

The Chinese have used ginseng for thousands of years to promote longevity, relieve stress and treat various ailments. The Cherokee are believed to have used wild American ginseng for similar purposes, and it’s been shipped to China since the early 18th century. Panax ginseng, its wild Asian relative, has long been virtually extinct due to deforestation and overharvesting, though large-scale Chinese farms continue to cultivate a much less potent variety.

But “digging sang” was part of traditional Appalachian culture long before the current booming Chinese market started driving local ginseng prices sky high.

“It’s just something you heard of your grandpa doing, your dad doing, and you know, it’s just what you do,” says Josh Wallen, a lifelong Fairview resident. “You grow up fishing and hunting and spending a lot of time in the woods around here, you just naturally started digging it when you saw it. So it’s just something you get handed down.”

“Most people who know about digging ginseng were born and raised around these mountains … kind of like mountain men or hillbillies, if that’s what you want to call it,” he continues. “Making money to spend time in the woods? It don’t get much funner than that.”

But harvesting ginseng is illegal on national parkland, and on private property you must have the landowner’s permission.

Each September, the U.S. Forest Service sets a legal harvesting period for the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, issuing permits that specify how much can be gathered. This year, the agency slashed the normal four-week season to two (Sept. 1-15) and issued just 136 permits through a lottery system, a 75 percent reduction from 2012. Each permit holder can gather up to 3 pounds.

“Dramatic declines of wild ginseng populations over the past decade suggest previous harvest levels are no longer sustainable,” Forest Supervisor Kristin Bail explained in a June 20 press release announcing the changes. “It is in everyone’s best interest to further limit the amount of the harvest to help ensure the plant’s future sustainability.”

But it’s unclear how much difference those restrictions will make. Freely admitting that he’s never applied for a permit himself or sought permission from landowners, Wallen speculates that less than 10 percent of his fellow diggers ever bother going through the permitting process.

“I’ve always considered it Christmas money,” he reveals, adding that over the years he’s earned enough from ginseng harvesting to buy two trucks, a four-wheeler and more.

Most folks, he says, “walk for days and don’t even worry about whose property they’re on. Generally it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”

“I’ve had a couple people run me off, no doubt,” he continues. “I’ve had a couple people call the law on me and stuff. But you don’t stick around long enough to find out. You just turn your back to them and walk off in the woods.”

Botanical banditry

Brad Stanback owns a remote tract of land that straddles the Buncombe/Haywood County line in the Newfound Mountains. He says he’s called law enforcement to report ginseng poachers on his property many times, to little effect. For 20 years, the environmentalist says, he planted ginseng on his land in a way that simulated wild growth conditions, a practice advocated by preservationists.

“After a while, I just started finding muddy holes in the ground and not finding the plants I’d planted before,” he reports. In 2010, Stanback installed cameras in the woods surrounding his home.

“I was shocked to see how many ginseng poachers were crawling around my property, usually dressed in camouflage,” he continues.

“There was one group coming and going for three days. I think they were camping on my property, and hiking in and out, to dig ginseng.”

With U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents’ jurisdiction limited to public property, they referred Stanback to local sheriffs’ departments. After a lengthy ordeal in which he tried to gather evidence and talked to various law-enforcement officials and lawyers, Stanback says most of the poachers on his land got away scot-free, though a couple were given warnings and one a small fine.

“There was no way to effectively prosecute them, even when I had the photos,” he maintains. “It’s just not taken seriously.”

In fact, continues Stanback, his lawyer advised him “to just give up on it, because if you have any effective way of stopping these people, they may come burn your house down to get even with you.”

Happily, it never came to that, but Stanback says he does blame poachers for assorted “dirty tricks,” such as his livestock being mysteriously let loose and his hose being turned on, flooding his patio.

“My wife and daughter definitely felt physically endangered,” he reports. Disheartened, Stanback has given up growing ginseng and no longer keeps close tabs on his property, speculating that all the plants he grew have been stolen by now anyway.

Robert Eidus, who owns the North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co., is one of 54 licensed ginseng dealers in the state who buy roots from diggers and resell them at a profit. But unless the roots have been dyed, he says there’s no way for him to determine where the ginseng he buys comes from. State law, notes Eidus, requires harvesters to fill out paperwork indicating where they collected the plants, but “They can lie through their teeth, and I wouldn’t know it.

“Most of the time, it’s, ‘Oh, it’s my family’s land,'” he reports. “These guys feel like they’re outlaws. … They’re not making a lot of money compared to the amount of work they’re putting in; it’s just that they don’t have to punch a clock 9 to 5 like you do.”

“I’m allowed to buy from people who steal from other people,” adds Eidus. “It’s the last illegal, sanctioned business in America.”

Cat-and-mouse game

Enforcing ginseng laws, says Eidus, is “a hot potato, so everyone passes the buck.” A victim of poaching himself at his Madison County farm, Eidus echoes Stanback’s experience, asserting, “Usually when you call up the sheriffs, they’re totally useless.”

Natalie Bailey, public information officer at the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, referred this reporter to state and federal authorities, saying her agency hasn’t received any calls this year from property owners complaining about ginseng poaching.

Tom Chisdock, an Asheville-based special agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, maintains that steps are being taken to deal with the problem on public lands. But his office, he notes, is “constantly being challenged by shrinking numbers.” Since 2002, the number of agents has declined from five to one, making Chisdock the only such enforcement agent remaining in the state.

“While that might sound bleak, I just have to work smarter,” he observes. Asked for an example of recent success, he cites the high-profile 2010 bust of Johnny Grooms, who was convicted in a Greeneville, Tenn., court of trading prescription painkillers for more than 30 pounds of illegally harvested ginseng.

Meanwhile, the N.C. Department of Agriculture website ominously warns: “Removing any plant or its parts from national forest land without a permit is considered theft. Every national forest plant is public property, which means plant thieves are robbing taxpayers of a resource that is collectively owned. Penalties for plant poaching may include a fine up to $5,000 or sentence in a federal prison, or both.”

Nonetheless, says Chisdock, poaching “appears to be ever increasing. That’s mainly because of the financial rewards, whether that’s due to tough economic times or folks just trying to make a living. Unfortunately, the market is like a cat-and-mouse game. You slow down one segment and another takes over.”

Seeds of change

Unlike most local ginseng dealers, Eidus says he sells only to American consumers, mostly Asian-Americans in bigger cities, though his roots are also readily available at the French Broad Food Co-op in downtown Asheville. And with growing domestic interest in Chinese medicine and alternative health care, he sees “huge potential” in the U.S. market.

But with wild supplies dwindling, Eidus and others are looking to what’s called woodland cultivation. The large-scale industrial ginseng farms found in China and in states like Wisconsin, he explains, rely on artificial shading, soil fertilization and pesticides. Eidus, on the other hand, is helping organize the N.C. Ginseng Association, encouraging local farmers to use an organic approach that replicates wild conditions.

Traditionally farmed ginseng sells for only $18 to $24 a pound and contains far lower levels of medicinal ginsenosides than its wild relatives. But wild-simulated plants have the potential to match the levels of ginsenosides found in wild plants, says Alison Dressler, research associate at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center in Mills River. More testing is needed, she notes, but her organization is helping locals turn their empty wood lots into profitable havens for ginseng and other botanicals such as goldenseal, black cohosh and bloodroot.

“Not only do we want to preserve these plants and provide people with supplemental income, we want to help them get better prices for this stuff,” says Dressler, adding that interest is on the rise. “You’re not going to get rich overnight doing this, but even a few thousand dollars a year to pay the taxes on your land makes a difference.” The biggest hurdle facing growers, she notes, is theft: Even experimental plots cultivated at undisclosed locations under the center’s care have been raided.

Meanwhile, Eidus says the N.C. Ginseng Association is getting better organized amid promising negotiations with one of the nation’s biggest herb distributors. Declining to reveal the West Coast company’s name, he says it’s interested in contracting with local woods farmers to grow thousands of pounds of ginseng roots per year for domestic consumption.

“We’re selling it to Americans for Americans. It’s almost revolutionary,” Eidus declares. “Other herb companies are also going to want to get in on it. If this gets going, it’ll bring other business our way.”

But he, too, says poaching is one of the biggest obstacles, noting that several farmers involved in the negotiations are loath to reveal their identity for fear of being robbed.

Increasing the association’s organizational and economic clout, Eidus believes, will lead to more respect for the industry, police protection, crop insurance and money for high-tech security measures such as GPS tracking systems.

“People need to be protected. It’s a crop,” he points out. “This is the way we should be going.”

Even Wallen says the situation in local forests is getting so dire that he’s thinking about changing his ways in order to preserve his beloved tradition.

“In my opinion, we need to tighten up the laws,” he asserts. “People are raping the woods for this stuff, bad. I love money; I love digging ginseng. I love it as much as I love breathing air: I’ve done it my whole life. … But I love our nature better.

“I want to be able to take my kids to the woods to dig ginseng,” says Wallen, adding, “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Reported from YCBI September 13, 2001 by
Beverly Whitehead and Bobbie Ammons

Yellow Creek Botanical Institute, Inc. (YCBI) sponsored a Natural Products Tour on August 23 and 24, 2001 to illustrate economic opportunities in herb growing, processing and production for local people.

The five businesses toured included Red Moon Herbs in Black Mountain, We-Du Nursery in Marion, the North Carolina Ginseng and Goldenseal Company in Marshall, the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Fletcher, and Gaia Herbs in Brevard. YCBI provided transportation and lodging for everyone on the tour. The idea for the tour originated with Robin Suggs of YCBI. He and Rob Jordan were responsible for the grant that funded the event and Rob Jordan made the arrangements.

We learned there are two places in the world that grow over 250 different herbs, Manchuria, China and western North Carolina. As a result Gaia Herbs, a 15 year old herbal remedy company, moved here from Massachusetts in 1995 to be closer to the source of their product with the intent of growing their own organic herbs. Jeanine Davis and a group of scientists at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station are currently doing research on different growing conditions to help local growers produce herbs as commercial crops. Several of the people on the tour have test plots of Golden Seal and are monitoring them for the Specialty Crops Program study.

The first stop on the Natural Products Tour was Red Moon Herbs in Black Mountain. Red Moon Herbs “mission is to handcraft wild and organic herbal medicines that preserve the spirit of the plants and provide our community with simple, accessible health care.” Jessica Godino, founder of Red Moon Herbs, and Corinna Wood, a Certified Herbalist, showed us the facility where they make wildcrafted and organic herbal medicines. They explained the cold processing methods used to make extracts, oils, salves, and vinegars. As women and mothers of young children they have a special interest in women’s health issues and products. They teach classes and retail Red Moon products through catalog sales, the Internet, and health food stores.

With a greenhouse for propagation, plenty of water and a long shaded slice of land against Polly Spout Road in Marion, We-Du Nursery, is in its twentieth year of business, and was our second stop. Owned and operated by Dennis Niemeyer and Joani Lawarre, it is primarily a mail order nursery which grows over 4000 species of plants and ships over 250,000 plants a year all over the United States. Specializing in “essential natives and rare native plants their motto is “We-Du Natives and Other Neat Stuff”. They are open for retail sales in the Spring ONLY on Friday and Saturdays April – May and in the Fall for sales ONLY on Friday and Saturdays September – October. The rest of the year is dedicated to their mail order business.

The North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Company in Marshall, NC was the third stop. Robert Eidus talked to us about the difference in microorganisms between shaded soil versus sunny soil. He said Dr. Elaine Ingram’s (1-888-LANDCARE) work in soil biology indicates that shaded soil has 75% fungi to 25% bacteria, but soils in direct sunlight have 25% fungi to 75% bacteria. To balance shaded soil he recommended adding composted pine bark, manure and vegetable compost. Then he led us up a trail and through the woods identifying growing conditions and plants. Robert said that the presence of maidenhair fern appears to indicate the proper environment for golden seal, ginsing, and bloodroot. An advocate of companion planting he said, “It seems the more diverse the vegetation is in an area the healthier the plants are.”

Friday morning started at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station in Fletcher. Dr. Jeanine Davis told us that the Specialty Crops Program went statewide this year and added medicinal herbs, including ginseng, black cohosh, goldenseal, and ramps. Just like any traditional crop, optimum soil pH, mineral and trace element levels are being studied. American Botanical Labs tests products such as ginseng to determine purity levels. The lab is finding that a significant amount of ginseng imported into the USA is contaminated. Dr. Davis said that if we cultivate in controlled conditions in USA, we could set the standard for the world market.

While looking at shade cloth covered herb beds she exclaimed, “do not use straw for mulch! In WNC, slugs and diseases love it. Pine straw is okay and leaves are great!” She referred us to Peaceful Valley Farm Supply’s Website for natural pesticides which would not jeopardize organic farm certification. Recognizing that Agritourism can bring more money into our area she said that, “tourists to NC are willing to pay a high price for an experience of nature, like navigating through a corn maze. People will travel a great distance to walk a different maze.” In creating more moneymaking opportunities for farmers, Dr. Davis is looking at other types of crops for maze making such as sunflowers.

At GAIA HERBS in Brevard, our last stop, Greg Cumberford, the Business Operations Director and Daniel Vickers, the Raw Materials Inventory Manager gave us a walking tour of the outside tree orchards, the greenhouse, the cultivated open fields and the product production area where the herbs are processed into tinctures. Chemists check each batch to insure that the active ingredients of each remedy meet Gaia’s exacting standards prior to bottling and labeling. If not, the tincture is placed in a warmed centrifuge for evaporation and intensification of the active ingredients until Gaia’s standards are met. Then the tinctures are bottled, labeled and distributed to health stores and health practitioners.

As we were leaving Gaia, Greg and Daniel asked about the Smoky Mountain Native Plant Association. We told them SMNPA was comprised of local farmers, growers, and wild crafters. They said that within three years the demand for Gaia’s products would exceed their farm production capacity. As a result they are looking for local growers who would grow specifically for Gaia’s herbal needs. They offered to come to Graham County to provide organic growing advice, seed, and technical assistance if we would grow herbs for them.

After visiting all the sites Avi Askey said he learned that “no site is perfect, you have to make the best of what you have” …as long as you’re in the Southern Appalachians almost any piece of land will grow herbs.

Those participating in the tour were Karen Hurtubise, Ransom Cornett, Beverly Whitehead, Bobby Ammons, Joanne Parrott, Avi Askey, Tony Odom, Star Lightfoot, Jack Whisnant, Jim Weeks, and John and Priscella Carswell, Rob Jordan and Robin Suggs. Jack Whisnant said the, “trip set my agenda for the next couple years. I have a clearer understanding of what needs to be done to make this possible. In addition to the plants “creativity and marketing are important. A good business plan and marketing plan are critical.” Everyone had a great time, learned a lot and laughed a lot.

Yellow Creek Botanical Institute is also sponsoring the next educational opportunity geared toward the region’s production of native plants. On September 28 and 29, 2001 “Growing Opportunities in Native Plants, Part 2” will be held at the Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville. Call Rob Jordan at 828-479-4733 for information.

Quotes From the Tour:

“The first day we saw small businesses with 1-2 people, the second day we saw a large operation. It showed me how we can start out and where we could end up. Whether it’s a two-person business or a manufacturing plant, the process of distilling herbal essences into tinctures is the same.” – Ransom Cornett

“I learned more in two days than I had …in three years of seminars and reading on how to start my own herb farm.” – Bobbie Ammons

“I learned about different kinds of growing practices and marketing opportunities” – Joanne Parrott

“The most valuable for me was “connecting with neighbors and people in the trade to work towards a local network for marketing and sharing information.” – Avi Askey

“I learned that western NC offers the unique growing conditions necessary for the maximum variety and highest quality herb production. – Beverly Whitehead

The tour showed me how economically viable herbal production can be. There is an increasing need. There is money to be made in raising herbs.” – Beverly Whitehead

Comments:

Clodhopper
Jun-17-01, 10:39 PM (EDT)

“Re: Herb Farming”
There were some posts a while back talking about Robert Eidus, who runs North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co. here in Madison County. I went out to his place on Friday and took a tour of what he has going on there, and it’s pretty interesting. He grows and processes all kinds of natural medicinal herbs and plants and seems to be quite knowledgeable in those areas. I was mostly interested in ginseng, but apparently there are many other naturally growing herbs and plants in these mountains that have medicinal value. So at this point, I am still trying to learn more about this type of farming and will probably avail myself of his services in the future. If anyone has any thoughts or information on this subject, I would appreciate hearing about it.

freedom
Jun-19-01, 05:44 PM (EDT)

“RE: Herb Farming”
Clod, here’s another source for seed: http://www.seedsexpress.com.
Also, this site is one that offers info as well as goldenseal: http://www.mountainfarm.com/index.htm
Good luck!

ronstewart
Jun-20-01, 10:54 PM (EDT)

“RE: Herb Farming”
This is something i have always wanted to get into, after working with people for years this would be a welcome respite. Someday, post all the info you can on this, i am listening.