Millions of Americans take ginseng for its perceived health benefits. …The harvest for wild American ginseng begins this month. It’s also high-season for poaching. That’s leading to a serious problem: the plant’s popularity could lead to its demise.

Nine million people per year visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. No national park is more popular, or more threatened by ginseng poachers.

Ranger Joe Pond showed CBS News the largest protected ginseng habitat in America. Taking it from a national park is illegal. Pond said, “It’s the root that they’re after. You see how dense the forest is, you could dig through here most of the day and it would be hard to detect you were even back in here.”

Stolen roots were recovered by rangers two weeks ago from a pair of suspected thieves.

The roots don’t look like much, but can sell for more than $800 per pound.

Some days the rangers win. In 2010, they arrested Billy Joe Hurley. He pled guilty to poaching 11 pounds of ginseng. But the park spreads across a half million acres and only 30 rangers patrol it. Pond said, “For every one we catch I’d probably say 10 get away. It’s hard to say how many are actively out there.”

But we do know where almost all of it ends up — in China. For centuries ginseng has been prized as a spirit herb. Almost all wild American ginseng gets sold to brokers in Hong Kong. But first, it passes through an American ginseng dealer.

Robert Eidus is one of 32 licensed ginseng dealers in North Carolina. No state produces more it, and almost of it is exported to Hong Kong.

Eidus said he believes 90 percent of the exported ginseng is poached. Eidus says the problem in North Carolina is that harvesters don’t need a license.

CBS News’ Mark Strassmann asked, “Does it trouble you do business with people you suspect are poachers?”

Eidus replied, “Trouble me? Well, yes and no. But the big thing is, if I don’t buy it, then someone down the road, and the next guy, is definitely going to definitely not have a problem with it.”

Wild ginseng can be harvested in 19 states. Conservationists say the plant is at risk in 12 of them. The National Forest Service has cut ginseng harvesting permits by 75 percent, according to NatureServe, a nonprofit conservation organization.

Susan Leopold leads a group called United Plant Savers. Ginseng is on their list of 20 endangered plants. She said, I see ginseng, absolutely, as a national treasure. … The reality is that there are very few resources that are provided towards plant conservation. It’s not saving the panda. It’s not saving the polar bear.”

So will ginseng be around 10 or 20 years from now?

Eidus said it’s not possible, adding, “There’s not enough ginseng out there.”

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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.”

By Nathaniel Axtell, Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012
www.blueridgenow.com

For generations, Appalachian residents have harvested ginseng roots as a source of extra income. Often, whole families would search the woods each fall for the distinctive three- or four-pronged plant and the lucrative roots lying beneath its yellow leaves.

Today, ginseng is so prized in the Orient for its medicinal properties that poaching and overharvesting of the plant by collectors threatens to wipe out wild Appalachian ginseng from North Carolina’s forests, experts say. Dried roots now sell here for $500-$600 per pound.

“I’m very concerned that we might not have ginseng in the wild in a few years,” said Jim Corbin, a plant protection specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the sale and export of ginseng.

Corbin was part of an expert panel of botanists and regulators discussing plant conservation Friday at the International American Ginseng Exposition, a conference held this weekend at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center.

Conference speakers agreed that more ginseng must be grown on private lands by forest farmers to take pressure off wild populations on federal lands, which have been hard-hit by drought, poaching and decades of intense collecting pressure.

“Getting more ginseng grown on private lands is the key to sustainability of ginseng long-term,” said Pat Ford, a botanist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

While the conference focused on numerous barriers facing ginseng cultivators, experts say high demand for wild ginseng in China and Hong Kong offers local landowners the opportunity to sustainably manage their forests while generating steady income.

“Every single year, they continue to make some kind of money off it,” said Robert Eidus, a medicinal plant dealer from Marshall who teaches courses on ginseng growing. “Where as when they cut the trees down, boom, that’s it. The key here is to diversify. If somebody does cattle, soybeans and a nice woodland lot (of ginseng), you’re talking about a nice $200,000 income.”

‘Sang gets rarer

Since the 18th century, Appalachian ginseng collectors have been exporting the plant’s root to the Orient, where Asian ginseng has been used as restorative tonic and energy booster for 5,000 years. But in recent decades, global demand has outstripped supply and intensified pressure on wild populations.

In 1997, about 6,500 pounds of dried wild ginseng root were harvested in North Carolina; in Henderson County, just 86 pounds were recorded that year by the N.C. Department of Agriculture.

By 2007, when prices hit close to $1,000 per dry pound, the statewide harvest almost doubled, to 12,799 pounds. Locally, harvests reached 216 pounds that year. Corbin said the lure of big money turned what once was a sustainable family affair, where seeds were sown and immature plants left to ripen, into a ruthless business.

“These folks we’re seeing today, they’re taking everything,” Corbin said, even baby plants whose roots aren’t five years old, as required by state law.

Ginseng reproduces by seed and usually doesn’t produce fruit until its third growing season. So harvesting a young plant before it’s able to produce seed stifles reproduction. A study of 335 likely sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway found just 47 ginseng populations, 35 percent of which had no mature plants left.

“Seventy-one percent of the populations — this just staggered me — had less than 15 plants remaining,” said conference panelist Nora Murdock, a botanist with the National Park Service. Many experts consider 30 ginseng plants the minimum number necessary to ensure the long-term survival of a population.

These ginseng patches weren’t found close to the road, or even near trails, Murdock said. And harvesting ginseng is illegal on national park lands.

“When we started this, I honestly thought when we got back to these really remote sites, we’re going find some big populations,” Murdock said. “And we’re flat not finding them.”

A four-year study in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of six ginseng populations found that most patches were so bereft of mature seed producers that they “are currently barely maintaining themselves and cannot tolerate any further harvest,” Murdock said.

On National Forest lands, where ginseng may be harvested in most areas between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 by permit, botanist Gary Kauffman said the number of permits has risen steadily over the last five years, while harvestable ginseng has become more rare.

“So I’m kind of wondering where people are getting all the plants,” he said.

‘Wild-simulated’ to the rescue?

Experts at the conference said “wild-simulated” ginseng — plants sown, lightly cultivated and sustainably harvested on long rotations in private woods — could help take pressure off wild populations.

Roots grown under such conditions typically are nearly indistinguishable from those of fully wild ginseng, and command high prices, but the practice has its challenges. Poaching of wild-simulated “crops” is widespread, growers at the conference said, and it requires ample patience and land.

“You really need this huge amount of forest because you’re doing 400 roots, 10 years old to make an average pound,” said Eidus. “And they have to be spread about three feet apart, so you need a lot of land to do it.”

The first harvest can’t occur until the seventh year, Eidus said, but when combined with other commercially valuable medicinal plants such as goldenseal, Echinacea, bloodroot and black cohosh, a forest farmer can make good money from his or her land without having to log or subdivide it.

Not all forests are suitable for growing ginseng, Eidus said. The best sites are shaded, north-facing cove forests dominated by tulip poplar, beech, and maple, not woods filled with rhododendron and mountain laurel.

Chinese consumers also need to be educated more about the value of cultivated ginseng, said Dr. Jeanine Davis, a horticulturist at the research center. Years ago, buyers were wary of cultivated goldenseal, another medicinal herb, but research proved it was just as potent and more consistent a product than wild-grown.

“We need to work with consumers to have them understand that wild-simulated is better for the environment, it’s better for the conservation of the plant and I would like to see the research that shows wild-simulated ginseng is a more consistent product,” she said.

Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.