Video Tape VTG-1

GINSENG AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(Summer, 2000)

Wild ginseng has lived in moist cool understory of the forests for millennia and this symbiosis enhanced it as a plant species and enhanced the environment by its presence. We want to talk about that relationship in different ways today.

The narrator is Al Fritsch.

Part 1: Preserving Wild Ginseng in the Forest (Greg Williams)

This is a greater problem than one would expect because ginseng grew in the Eastern American forests plus those in the Orient for thousands of years. But it was almost wiped out in China when the forests disappeared and also in North America even in the 18th century when its international commercial value became known. So the threat to ginseng is not something new but very old. That threat is very real today. Greg Williams is editor of HortIdeas and has attended a conference on Ginseng. Could you tell us about the concerns voiced at that conference on regulating of ginseng poaching and non- sustainable or over-harvesting of wild ginseng. We have regulations that are in effect at this moment which state that the ginseng must be five years of age before it is allowed by our Dept. of Interior for export through CITES regulations. Is that possible today to verify whether Ginseng is a threatened or endangered species? What must be done in the coming years to encourage monitoring of the harvesting of wild ginseng? Must we be prudent and take the stricter approach if the plant is actually threatened?

Part 2: Preserving the Forest by Growing Wild Ginseng (Paul Gallimore)

Not only must we preserve ginseng as a wild species Panax quinquefolium, but we must preserve the forest in which it grows. Furthermore, the deliberate growing of virtually wild ginseng is a way to enlist woodland owners in caring for and preserving the forest for this potentially lucrative crop. This becomes a win-win situation with the forest gaining as well as ginseng being retained in larger quantities. Thus it is a non-timber forest product which has value in commerce and the forested property actually becomes more commercially valued because it is growing a profitable crop which has high demand. Paul Gallimore tells how chip mills and timbering operations gain very small returns compared to ginseng and can destroy the forest floor which will then not allow the ginseng to be grow.