TOPIC: New National Geographic Article on Poachers

www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-cu...reaten-its-survival/

Interesting, but I think they are wrong about how much ginseng is illegally harvested. Most people do plant berries back, and just look at how many hundreds of pounds of stratified seeds are bought and planted in the woods every year. Ginseng isn't going extinct, too many people grow it. Also, how stupid are they to tell how to see if the plants have been marked? Any digger or dealer can get a black light to check them out before selling.

If the government is truly worried about the survival of ginseng, they should invest in seeds and do more to encourage landowners to plant seeds.

lenno,
Also raise the age of wild ginseng being dug to 10 years in all states like some of the other states. This would really help the population plus a better price. A lot of the dealers including myself just don't want the young seng that is 5 years old. The Asians don't want it and will not buy it so leave it in the woods!

I know people don't want to hear it but maybe a green market only. This would stop summer digging.

I agree with a lot of what you say but not with only having a green market season. Ginseng digging has definitely changed over the past 3 years since our friends on the History Channel aired their show about digging ginseng. I agree that poaching is destroying our ginseng crop and there needs to be ways new ways to stop the poaching. A solution that I thought of that I would like to ask the opinion of fellow sengers is this. What if they issued a weight allowance to each digger? It would be similar to the way that the State of Louisiana issues there tags for culling alligators. I admit that I stole this idea from another History Channel show (Swamp People) but why wouldnt this work for ginseng as well? Each digger must apply to their respective state for a license to hunt ginseng, they would then be given an allowance of how much weight they would be allowed to dig, they would then be required to sell that sang at a licensed agent that would then be required to report that diggers harvest to the correct department of the state that the sang was dug in. A problem that I could see happening is buyers buying sang from diggers that aren't licensed but at least they could be regulated much easier than poachers sneaking around in the woods during June and July digging sang.

Please everyone don't think that I'm saying that this system would work. Its just that Im extremely worried about a pastime that my grandfather taught me and that I've been doing for more than 30 years now and I'm only thinking aloud and would like to know everyone else's opinion. Thanks

Good discussion guys,
Sorry for the long post below but here it goes for anyone wanting to read it.

I think most good diggers do indeed replant the seeds. So if the mother plant is dug and all the seeds are planted, then the ginseng species will continue to be a renewable resource for future generations to enjoy and to dig.

As we already know, many poachers dig early and seeds are not developed. Therefore there is not going to be future ginseng plants in the area the mother plant was dug. Plus the poachers dig everything in sight in the area regardless of age or size.

The thought of \"selling green root only\" may have some merit plus the dealers for the most part seem to pay a fair price for green root \"ratio wise\" pertaining to dry root. However, that would certainly be a big change in how it's been done for the last century and many would not like it I am sure.

Not sure about putting a limit of the amount allowed to be dug by any one person. If I want to put in the effort to work hard at digging then why limit me or anyone to a certain max allowed. I see your point, but the key is good digging practices in my opinion. Arresting poachers, plus good diggers replant seeds and digging only mature plants will go a long way in protecting our favorite plant.

I agree that \"Black Lights\" can be purchased by anyone, so I was wondering the same thing when I read the story pertaining to the dyeing of roots to catch poachers. Hats off to them though for attempting to at least try something to catch these poachers.

Whether ginseng is an endangered species or not is a great question. I would certainly think that the days of finding big old ginseng plants may certainly be more rare than in the past. However, if diggers replant the seeds then more seeds will germinate than if they just fall to the ground and are left to mother nature. So in essence the digger may be the one to ensure the survival of our favorite plant. There may be a day where a 20 year old plant is considered to be an old plant and the 40, 50 plus year old roots are and will be very rare to find. I think this has already happened and will continue as more folks are out there that are willing to venture deeper into the woods to search in more difficult terrain where some of these older roots may still be hiding.

Latt

I don't want to see a limit for a person to harvest, what about all the people growing wild simulated? There are lots of people that could dig a LOT of ginseng any given year that grow/steward their patches. It should never be up to the government on how much of my ginseng I dig from my property no matter if its wild or simulated or cultivated,

Rootman, I understand what you are saying about the green market, but I am sure you could dig in June and just transplant it to dig back up in season. The top might even die but the root would be fine.

I don't think punishing the people who are \"doing it right\" is ever the correct response. Going down that road could just as easily lead to limiting you on how much you can buy.

Stiffer penalties for poaching would have a much better outcome in my humble opinion. When the risk outweighs the reward is when a much smaller number of people will break the law.

lenno wrote:

I don't want to see a limit for a person to harvest, what about all the people growing wild simulated? There are lots of people that could dig a LOT of ginseng any given year that grow/steward their patches. It should never be up to the government on how much of my ginseng I dig from my property no matter if its wild or simulated or cultivated,

Rootman, I understand what you are saying about the green market, but I am sure you could dig in June and just transplant it to dig back up in season. The top might even die but the root would be fine.

I don't think limiting poundage is a good idea either because of growers and we don't need a lot more paper work.

10 year age on ginseng would really help and on the green market trying to transplant in late spring or summer months most of it would rot in the ground. Most illegal diggers wants instant money and if they can't sell, this would stop a lot of digging out of season.

Bad ideal to get the goverment involed most of them are bigger crooks than the poachers.