TOPIC: Any new laws on Ginseng this year?

Happy to talk to you, most anytime. I usually don't accept or make calls after 2100, or before 0800.

Your main income is from hunting 'sang?

No but 2 or 3 grand helps me out greatly each year. I work for the rail road as my main income

Looks like the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee has changed their harvest regulations similar to NC.

Ginseng Collection To Be Limited In Cherokee National Forest
Monday, August 05, 2013
Ginseng is a native plant of Tennessee that grows mostly in cool, moist mountain forests. This perennial herb is highly prized for its large, fleshy roots which are believed to have medicinal value. Permits are required to collect ginseng in the national forest. Range-wide, wild ginseng populations have declined over the past decade. The Forest Service is limiting the collection of ginseng in the Cherokee National Forest because of concerns about sustainable harvest levels. Forest Service managers believe it is in everyone’s best interest to limit the amount of collection to help ensure that the plant’s future sustainability is protected.

Collecting Season & Permits
Starting in 2013, the Forest Service is implementing the following process for permitting ginseng collecting in the Cherokee National Forest:
• The 2013 ginseng collecting season will be from September 16th through September 30th. This two week period will be the only time that ginseng can be legally collected in the Cherokee National Forest by valid permit holders.
• The Forest Service will issue a total of 40 permits, each with a maximum limit of 25 roots.
• A lottery will be held to determine the 40 permittees. Twenty permits will be issued for the northern half of the Forest (Watauga & Unaka Ranger Districts) and twenty permits will be issued for the southern half of the Forest (Tellico & Ocoee Ranger Districts).
• Lottery applicants may only apply for either the north or the south Cherokee NF.
• Permits will cost $20 and are limited to one permit per person per year. Permittees must be at least 18 years of age.

That sounds worse than in NC. I'm not sure as to the size of the Cherokee forest there in Tenn, however only 40 permits sounds like a big reduction.

Again, the Law Enforcement sounds like it is going to have to ratchet up if to be effective. I suppose that since there are only 40 permits, rangers could stop most anybody and could count on a citation going out.

A lot of folks here seem to think that predation by poachers will continue unabated. I'm not so sure. Meaning that if the law enforcemtn is agressive, then a good bit of these idiots will be caught.

Of course, there's still moonshiners out there, yes? So, poachers will be as well I guess.

I wish that the Feds had actually polled legal growers as to limits and availablility of permits.

Hard to say how it will go. It could give law enforcement an opportunity to make some publcity around poaching convictions. For those that went to the NC Ginseng conference last December will recall Jim Corbin talking about how when they heavily publicized poaching convictions the amount of poaching incidents dropped the following year.

But it could also drive those poachers more toward private land and exacerbate those problems.

The Cherokee NF sounds pretty big (600 miles of trail, 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail, encompassing almost 700,000 acres) so 40 permits does seem low. To compare the Wayne National Forest Here in Ohio has only about 250,000 acres, spread across 3 noncontiguous tracts. Annually they are issuing about 65-70 harvest permits forest wide, with the allowable take being 95 plants or 1/2 a fresh Lb. for ginseng. I contacted our Forest Botanist at the Wayne this week once I saw that more forests were issuing announcements about these changes. Haven't heard back yet, so still not sure if there will be similar changes here in Ohio. I know that they have been getting pressure from the national office over the last few years to further restrict harvests, so we will see what happens. It's getting pretty late in the year for regulatory changes so if they are going to happen it will be very soon.

Wow a permit to dig 25 roots!??? Personal use?

Rural Action Forestry wrote:

Hard to say how it will go. It could give law enforcement an opportunity to make some publcity around poaching convictions. For those that went to the NC Ginseng conference last December will recall Jim Corbin talking about how when they heavily publicized poaching convictions the amount of poaching incidents dropped the following year.

But it could also drive those poachers more toward private land and exacerbate those problems.

The Cherokee NF sounds pretty big (600 miles of trail, 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail, encompassing almost 700,000 acres) so 40 permits does seem low. To compare the Wayne National Forest Here in Ohio has only about 250,000 acres, spread across 3 noncontiguous tracts. Annually they are issuing about 65-70 harvest permits forest wide, with the allowable take being 95 plants or 1/2 a fresh Lb. for ginseng. I contacted our Forest Botanist at the Wayne this week once I saw that more forests were issuing announcements about these changes. Haven't heard back yet, so still not sure if there will be similar changes here in Ohio. I know that they have been getting pressure from the national office over the last few years to further restrict harvests, so we will see what happens. It's getting pretty late in the year for regulatory changes so if they are going to happen it will be very soon.

While the Cherokee NF is fairly large, approximately 1/3rd of it is comprised of Wilderness areas where no Ginseng harvesting is allowed, so this makes matters even worse for us. In comparison, North Carolina probably has 4 to 5 times as much NF land or more. I didn't search online for each of their' sizes in square miles, so I don't know exactly how much nf land there is in NC but there is a lot.


Frank

So have they quit logging in these areas as well? The equipment they use will undoubtedly kill some of the ginseng, especially when making roads.

Cherokee National Forest has become a joke. It's fast becoming another National PARK where they don't want anyone doing ANYTHING other than from a marked trail and they would really prefer you simply \"enjoy\" the place through your windshield.

All this is coming about because of tree hugging \"wilderness\" lovers who most likely will never step foot in this \"wilderness\" area. They like the \"idea\" of these things and it's coming at the expense of the one's who actually do go into these places and enjoy it's beauty and bounty.

I can get a ticket for clearing a felled tree with a hatchet from a trail without proper \"training\" that is given in a class. I can get a ticket if I start my hike into my deer hunting location prior to 2 hours before day light even thou it takes a good 3 hours of steady up hill climbing to get there because it's a \"wilderness area\" and no roads can get me closer. Horse back riders have been closed off many trails because the horses cross streams that COULD disturb minnows and God forbid you ride a horse in the wilderness area. I actually got a warning ticket for riding a mountain bike in the wilderness area.

These \"wilderness\" areas are great if you like the idea of 1000 years from now there being 20 story tall oak trees (exaggeration of course) but, it sucks for the wildlife. Game is scarce unless acorns hit simply because the canopy is singular and there's really not a lot of good browse for the wildlife.

There's tons of ginseng in these wilderness and other areas in the national forest but, these \"experts\" that are making these rules aren't going to these locations. Instead they are looking from close to reach locations and since it's easy for EVERYONE to reach it's dug out and then it's an \"OH MY GOD............. There's no ginseng anywhere\".

I used to buy my permit and while bear or deer hunting would dig some when I came across it and that would help pay for my gas. Not any more I guess.

it may come down to if you are not paying land taxes you will not be able to sell ginseng.