• All harvesters are required to purchase a harvester license ($15.75 for residents and $30.75 for non-residents), unless the individual harvests on their own land and is not selling. The license must be in the digger’s possession when harvesting or selling wild ginseng.

• Anyone who buys more than 8 ounces of wild ginseng in Wisconsin for resale must obtain a Wisconsin Dealer’s License form the WI Department of Natural Resources.

• The harvest season for wild ginseng in Wisconsin is from September 1 to November 1. Ginseng harvested during this season may be sold by harvesters from September 1 to March 31 of the next year.

• Under Wisconsin law, all harvested ginseng plants must have at least 3 prongs and a fruiting stalk, and the berries must be red in color. Diggers are required to keep the prongs and stalk from each harvested plant to provide proof that they were present.

• Ginseng diggers in Wisconsin are required to replant the seeds of harvested wild ginseng in the area of the parent plants.

• Ginseng may not be harvested on state or federal owned lands in Wisconsin.

• The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, serves as the state’s wild ginseng coordinator, and can be reached at

(608) 438-5496 or (608) 279-1960 or at:

Wild Ginseng Program, LE/8

P.O. Box 7921

Madison, WI 53707-7921

 

Provided by the American Herbal Products Association, in cooperation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and United Plant Savers