American Ginseng Adds $25M to Local Economy

ROANOKE, Va.Wild-crafted American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) provided, on average, close to $25 million to the economies of the rural eastern United States every year from 2000 through 2007, according to an unpublished report funded by the American Herbal Products Association Foundation for Education & Research on Botanicals (AHPA-ERB Foundation).  The research also found as forests mature and produce larger trees, the harvesting of American ginseng increases, but harvesting the herb does not effect the amount of public forest lands in counties from which it was collected. By having this scientific data, product manufacturers, academia and the government can better design sustainability strategies, according to the researchers.

This research was presented at the Eighth North American Forest Ecology Workshop, held in Roanoke, Va., by James Chamberlain, Ph.D., research forest products technologist at the National Agroforestry Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. With support from the AHPA-ERB Foundation, Virginia Tech and the Forest Service, Chamberlain's presentation, "Relationships Between Harvest of American Ginseng and Hardwood Timber Production," examined the relationship between the reported harvest of American ginseng and hardwood timber in the forests of the eastern United States.

"American ginseng has been collected from eastern hardwood forests and has added significantly to the economy of rural America for hundreds of years," Chamberlain said. "The harvest of ginseng and timber are closely related; often loggers were digging ginseng, as well."

He added, "This study demonstrates the importance of having good data on medicinal forest products and providing transparency to these important forest natural resources. Through these and future efforts, the industry, academia, and the government can work together to help improve the sustainability of the plants that are critical to the herbal medicine industry."  

Michael McGuffin, AHPA president and an AHPA-ERB Foundation board member noted The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has compiled data on ginseng harvests for more than 25 years. "The foundation believes that it is essential to the understanding of the commerce of wild-harvested plants to have specific data about that level of commerce, in this case, American ginseng. This is especially important when we recognize the importance of the wild-harvesting of medicinal plants in rural areas with high unemployment."

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service includes American ginseng on its CITES Appendix II, which lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction [but] that may become so unless trade is subject to strict regulation."

 An article co-authored by Chamberlain that includes some of the findings from the AHPA-ERB Foundation report has been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.