Ginseng foragers bemoan regulations that threaten livelihood

Ginseng root is common in the region, and much of it is harvested by rural residents and exported to Asia, where it is widely used for medicinal purposes. Extract from the root is also used in energy drinks sold in the United States.

The root generally sells for about $300 a pound and has traditionally been a source of extra income during lean times.

The ruling pertains to an international export treaty that prohibits exporting roots that are younger than 10 years old. Botanists for the service say that the number of mature ginseng plants is dwindling from overharvesting. State officials say Tennessee’s yield of ginseng has consistently dropped from an all-time high of 25,166 pounds in 1992. Yields vary by year, said David Lincicome with the state Department of Environment and Conservation.

Lincicome said 8,690 pounds were harvested in 2004; 10,585 pounds in 2003; and 5,816 pounds in 2002.

“There is a shift in population structure due to harvest pressure,” he said. “Can I say it is threatened? No. Because year after year people are harvesting 8,000 pounds of ginseng.”

“We are trying to make decisions that aren’t arbitrary and have a basis in science,” said Robert Gabel, chief of the Division of Scientific Authority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We don’t want (the regulations) to have an adverse affect on people, but our job is to protect the plant so people can continue to pick ginseng down the road, even though it hurts some today.”

But local “diggers” say that method used by the service is unreliable for determining the age of a root that has been disturbed at any point during its lifespan.

Federal botanists determine the age of a root by the number of growth scars around its neck.

“That would be true if ginseng grew in an environment that has never been disturbed,” said Hoyt Bonds, 82, who has been digging ginseng for about 50 years. “But animals eat the plants. They root into the soil and many times eat the neck. I can show you a ginseng root that only has five or six neck rings that is 20 to 25 years old.”

“There’s no way this stuff is endangered,” said Hoyt Rymer, who has been digging in Tennessee for 40 years. “My daddy dug it and my grandfather dug ‘seng.’ It grows all over. You just have to know where to look for it.”

“We help the ginseng population more than anything,” said Bill Truelone, a longtime digging companion of Rymer’s. “We’ll take 20 or 30 seeds when we’re digging and plant them back.”

But federal and state officials are concerned that unscrupulous diggers may be taking a toll.

“I know it’s difficult in some parts of the country,” said Dr. Javier Alvarez, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘What can we do today to make the life of ginseng diggers more difficult?'”

“The thing is, we keep getting bad news,” he said. “We have to make tough decisions.”