Overharvesting in the Applachians

Desiree

I was reading this article and thought I would share it...

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wild-ginseng-appalachia?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=52a365fd1e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_11_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-52a365fd1e-66074589&mc_cid=52a365fd1e&mc_eid=303487093c

LaurieLovesLearning

Ah, we need to rein in that @judsoncarroll4, I think...he is getting overzealous. Just kidding. 🙃

Thanks for sharing, @Desiree.

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/882108#Comment_882108

Thanks for that Laurie ;-p

But, seriously... I'm sure this is happing in places. But, where I live, the main threat habitat is development. A LOT of organizations get a lot of charitable and tax dollars to "protect" or "preserve" all kinds of stuff.... but no one I've seen is actually doing anything worth anything. Sure, they can complain about a local person who continues their family tradition of wildcrafting... but, they never say a word about the new Walmart or housing subdivision that entails lots of acreage being cleared and graded.... maybe because Walmart, etc donates a lot of money to "non-profits"???? A few years ago, a family that owned hundreds of acres donated it to a local college, assuming it would be protected and preserved because they "care so much" a bout the environment. Well, the college sold the land for pennies on the dollar to professors and trustees.... who then turned it into a multi-million dollar real estate development.... Orwell wrote, "Some animals are more equal than others". That generally translates around here to preventing traditional southerners who believe in sustainable practices and wilderness lifestyles from having access to land by any means necessary... while encouraging Floridians and New Yorkers to develop and destroy every inch of private land, 'raping and pillaging" with impunity so long as they check the right political boxes and support the right causes. Meanwhile, there are guys like me who go to the woods to find rare plants and propagate them on my property (actually saving rare plants), catch the fish my tax dollars pay for in hatcheries and probably live in a "carbon negative" way.... constantly being regulated and harassed by law enforcement and other people who would really prefer if hillbillies just disappeared. How bad is it? Well, when Bernie Madoff went to jail, half the county went into bankruptcy! All of it, real estate development built on pyramid investment.