Thar's gold in them thar hills. Unfortunately, the bad guys know it's there.
Ginseng , a root that is believed to hold medicinal properties, grows wild in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddling the North Carolina-Tennessee border.
Hefty demand for ginseng, especially in the Orient, keeps the price in the $600-a-pound range, and has poachers sneaking onto park lands and illegally taking the plants.
"Six-hundred dollars a pound is a real motivator for some people. It's tough to catch them," said District Ranger John Garrison, based in Bryson City.
The plant is protected in North Carolina and can be harvested from private lands only at certain times. Ginseng can never be taken legally from federal park lands.
"People know where it's at and they go in and get it," said John W. Scott, plant protection field supervisor for the state Department of Agriculture. "They go on to federal land and take it all, not even leaving seeds or small roots so the plants can continue. We have to make sure it doesn't disappear."
State plant specialists and National Park Service rangers are trying to one-up the stealthy poachers. The ginseng -squad has placed invisible markers within plants. The markers contain a code that specifies the ginseng's origin. Routine inspection of ginseng on the market can help to detect poachers.
But the best way to catch poachers is the old-fashioned way - nabbing them in the act.
"We use surveillance. However, I won't give up our secrets," Garrison said. "I don't want to help the poachers out."
Park officials recently prosecuted two cases involving the poaching of ginseng from park property in Swain County.
Both cases involved a couple of pounds of ginseng, and the poachers were caught through observation. The two were convicted, but have yet to be sentenced.
Another poacher was caught not long ago trying to carry 14 pounds of the precious root out of the park.
Despite the recent success at catching poaachers, rrangers say that for every one nabbed, several more get away.
"That's the public's property being stolen," Garrison said. "We need the public to help be our eyes."
When nabbed on park land, poachers face a federal regulatory charge that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
- BY : The Associated Press
- SOURCE : Greensboro News Record1996.02.25
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