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Explaining harvests of wild-harvested herbaceous plants: American ginseng as a case study

John Paul Schmidt·Jennifer Cruse-Sanders·James L. Chamberlain·Susana Ferreira·John A. Young
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Abstract

Wild-harvested plants face increasing demand globally. As in many fisheries, monitoring the effect of harvesting on the size and trajectory of resource stocks presents many challenges given often limited data from disparate sources. Here we analyze American ginseng ( Panax quinquefolius L.) harvests from 18 states in the eastern U.S. 1978–2014 to infer temporal patterns and evidence of population declines, and we test the effects of local environmental and socioeconomic factors on ginseng harvesting at the county level 2000–2014. Despite rising prices, annual wild ginseng harvests decreased from a high point in the late 1980s to early 1990s, then, in most, increased after 2005 or 2010 - suggesting range-wide overexploitation notwithstanding federal regulations that, since 1999, restrict minimum harvest age. County-level harvest rates increased with available habitat, road density, poverty and unemployment, but decreased when public land formed a large proportion of county area. Harvests were largest in the Southern Appalachian region. Poverty and accessibility were strongly related to high levels of harvesting. A key implication is that to conserve valuable wild native plant products while also improving local livelihoods, wild cultivation and good stewardship practices must be strongly promoted. Our approach to assessing the condition of wild populations offers a broad template that could be adapted to other wild-harvested plants.

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John Paul Schmidt, Jennifer Cruse-Sanders, James L. Chamberlain, Susana Ferreira, John A. Young. 2019. Explaining harvests of wild-harvested herbaceous plants: American ginseng as a case study. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.01.006

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