For centuries, American ginseng has been in the spotlight for mountain foragers and market specialists. Now, it is in the spotlight for conservationists who are striving to protect it from an irreversible decline.
Why Is American Ginseng So Valuable?
This plant is considered one of the most expensive herbal exports in the world, with some historical market prices reaching above $500 per pound of the root. These prices were the result of unsustainable black market operations, however, and prices seldom climb that high.
In greed, many hopeful foragers have found out the difficult way that market prices are often disappointing once a seller takes their fee, and buyers back out of initially high bids. Their foraging habits leave them in dangerous territory, from bear country in Appalachia, to the forests of the Russian Primorye where leopards roam freely. There are also federal penalties for harvesting, possessing, or exporting the wild root, which significantly impact the bottom line of any operation.
On average, the ginseng harvester won’t get anywhere near this amount. $30 to $50 is a more realistic price range for a pound of roots, which can consist of anywhere from 200 to 350 roots. Hundreds of individual plants dug, the result of thousands of hours and, often, more than 90% of a regional population.
So why is American ginseng so valuable, even in the face of extinction in the wild? Supply and demand.
In the 17th century, Colonial settlers realized that they had what is now known as American ginseng in the new and seemingly abundant land. This was the land of the plenty, where natural land stretched as long as the eye could see. While the land seemed never ending and plenty could be had, it could not match the greed of the new European settlements.
Around the same time, that surveyors were determining what resources were on the land, China was looking for a supplier for ginseng. Their own native Panax ginseng root – similar to Panax quinquefolius, or American ginseng – was believed to be extinct in the wild and prices were rising as a result.
To the inexperienced, ginseng can be difficult to identify, which makes foragers and cultivators selling the real root – rather than a lookalike – harder to come by than one would think. For a time in the 17th century, the lack of reputable sellers inflated the price per pound of ginseng, though you would be hard-pressed to find that same demand in the modern market.
Why is Harvesting Ginseng Illegal?
In the United States, the local foraging of ginseng is governed by individual states where the plant grows natively. Some states only regulate ginseng and have established ‘hunting seasons’ for the root to allow individuals to forage for the plant under specific licensure and inspection.
This is an attempt to mitigate the damage poaching does by allowing a minor amount of digging to go on, rather than outlawing it entirely and seeing the population poached to extinction. (1) The goal of this, of course, is to ensure younger plants can continue to exist in the wild, and eventually mature enough to produce berries, and repopulate a once-abundant land.
Other states have taken another tactic and banned the wild collection of the root entirely. Property laws make wild collection illegal on State-owned land, as well as National Parks land.
Conservationists work on these policies in an effort to support the population through decline and take other steps – such as careful stewardship – to allow populations to recover.
Ginseng’s number one threat to extinction in the wild is human poaching. What was once a family activity for many 19th century foragers can no longer be sustained. Because of the greed of poaching activities and poor ‘sang hunting stewardship in search of a fortune, not only is ginseng on the brink of extinction, but so is an entire cultural experience and way of life.
Why is Ginseng Restricted?
As another measure of protection, American ginseng was one of the first species listed in the CITES Appendix II restriction, which governs the trade of flora and fauna that are at risk of over-exploitation.
While this has created an illegal trade of ginseng, it has dampened the overall exploitation of wild roots, making it a successful and vital component of ongoing conservation efforts.
My granpapa used to take us Sang Hunting in the woods when I was little . He always told us to plant the seeds when we dug. I had no idea sang under such threat. thank you for a great write- up on this.
Have not read any articles or papers that actually know how to tell the age of certain ginseng roots that have being compacted down into soil by cattle or roots that have had other damage or disease and lost all risohms and again producing new with yearly growth of a plant or how long roots lay dormant due to logging no one can actually say for certain how to age these roots and what about deep roots in cattle pastures with very tiny three prong plants about three to four inches tall with long small risohms of 15 to say24 scars with very large old wrinkled roots how are they don’t think anyone knows for sure I can’t get around so good anymore dialysis 3 times a week have private areas of plants that I have being harvesting for about 44 years and they are full of babys that will probably never get dug and you never know when some very big roots sending tiny to huge plants to the surface for possible seed production but more plants are ate or die well before viable seeds can find their way into the soil and start it all over most of the remaining timber here in Iowa is not in very good shape and all the county and state land that has decent shaded hillside are mostly devoid of root if you would like to communicate with me feel free someone needs to document my theory’s before they are lost i know many of them are facts that need to be proben