Gold in the Woods.

For forest owners, ginseng is the hottest cash crop going.

Glancing over my shoulder, I step quietly through the woods to my ginseng patch. I don't see evidence of anyone's presence, but you can't be too careful. Poaching is a salient fact of life for ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), the emblematic plant of the eastern woodlands, and the living embodiment of an ancient tradition entering a new millennium.

If I didn't know their history, I wouldn't believe that these shy, inconspicuous plants around my ankles were an arbiter of American destiny. Ginseng is native to North America and to China, where medicinal use of the root dates back 5,000 years. The Chinese believe it prolongs life, induces wellness, and brings bodily systems into equilibrium. Western scientists find that ginseng may lower cholesterol, retard plaque in arteries, and stimulate the immune system.

In China, ginseng has been worth its weight in gold. After a Jesuit priest there described it in writings to a colleague in Canada in the mid-1700s, word of its value spread south along the frontier. Enormous quantities were exported to Asia to finance many American pioneers, most notably Daniel Boone, who gathered tons of it. By the 1850s, more than 350,000 pounds were being sold each year at about 50 cents a pound. The quantity then decreased as the plant became harder to find, and the price rose. In many places, ginseng was the most valuable product the forest offered. This continues to be true today.

"Ever since the yews of the Pacific Northwest went from being trash trees to sources of a cancer-fighting substance, 'nontimber forest products' have become forestry buzzwords," says Tom Hammett, a forestry professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg

Hammett is helping pioneer a program in nontimber products as tools for sustainable community development. "Ginseng is probably the preeminent special forest product in the East," he says, "although there are many other possibilities." (Ginseng is commercially available in many forms: bare dried root, which can be ground up for various herbal teas; powdered in capsules and tablets; in cosmetic creams; and in liquid extracts.)

Because Eastern forests have a high rate of biological diversity, they offer a wide spectrum of nontimber products: edibles such as ramps and mushrooms, which bring families and communities together in seasonal celebrations; medicinals, including goldenseal--second only to ginseng in commercial importance; floral products such as grape vines, moss, pine cones, and ferns, along with nursery products such as azaleas and rhododendrons; and special woods for carving and musical instruments.

Of all these, ginseng receives the greatest amount of official attention. Its commercial export has been regulated since 1975, when ginseng was listed as a species of concern by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), of which the U.S. is a member. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service monitors wild ginseng based on annual reports from about two dozen states. In 1996 (the latest year for which figures are available) 144,181 pounds were harvested. The southern Appalachians are the heart of wild ginseng country: Kentucky led with more than 32,000 pounds, and West Virginia and Tennessee came in next with more than 18,000 pounds each.

A pound of properly dried wild roots can bring up to $500. In Appalachia, a region containing some of the nation's poorest people, "seng" hunting is both a vibrant cultural tradition and an economic mainstay. "We would dig ginseng to buy school clothes and books so we could go back to school in the fail," Randy Halstead of the Coal River Valley in West Virginia told anthropologist Mary Hufford.

Plants are propagated from berries, which aren't produced until plants are at least 3 years old. This slow reproduction makes ginseng vulnerable. Wild plants have become extremely scarce in Asia, and the same thing maybe happening here. Last year, TRAFFIC, the World Wildlife Fund's wildlife trade monitoring operation, completed an analysis of the ginseng trade. It concluded that ginseng suffered from three major threats: habitat loss from logging and development, particularly in the southern Appalachians; a trend toward overcollection; and harvesting before plants or berries are mature.

Most states have made it illegal to take plants less than 3 years old, or before the berries have ripened in the autumn. Most require that berries from harvested roots be properly planted. But enforcement is difficult, and poaching is common. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, nearly 9,000 poached roots have been confiscated since 1992. If the roots are in reasonably good condition they can be replanted, which park rangers have been doing--after marking them with an orange dye to discourage the next poacher who digs them.

Concern for the genetic viability of dwindling ginseng populations prompted researchers in Illinois to investigate ginseng genetics in that state, where up to 8,500 pounds are harvested each year. Population sizes exceeding 170 plants are believed necessary for sustainability, but even these plants become susceptible to inbreeding as habitat is fragmented. "We are currently investigating whether ginseng in Illinois shows evidence of genetic erosion due to population decline," says Rebecca Anderson, a doctoral student under Dr. Sabine Loew at Illinois State University in Normal. Their work could inform regional strategies for ginseng conservation.

An emerging aspect of ginseng conservation is the encouragement of private forest owners growing naturalized roots (see "The Basics," at left). This could retain forest habitat, take pressure off wild stocks, and provide monetary rewards.

Al Fritsch, director of the nonprofit Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest based in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, is foremost among those who see naturalized ginseng as a means of achieving environmental as well as economic goals. This past summer, he inaugurated a series of workshops on growing ginseng and offered scholarships to small woodlot owners. First, though, Fritsch has to convince owners that poaching risks are manageable.

"Good dogs work well as a deterrent," he says.

Andy Hankins, a specialist in alternative agriculture for the Virginia Extension Service, must also deal with problems of theft. "Poaching is worst where unemployment is high," he notes, "but there are many places ginseng can be safely grown. There are 12 million acres of privately owned forestland just in Virginia, and much of it could grow ginseng as well as goldenseal, which likes a similar habitat."

In 1996, Hankins visited China and found extensive deforestation. "I saw no tree over 20 feet tall," he says, "and the Chinese now grow all the commercial ginseng they want through farm cultivation. They can produce 2,500 pounds of dried root per acre." This method means artificially shaded, fertilized, and sprayed plots that have nothing to do with forests.

"But the Chinese don't really like the big, white roots produced that way," Hankins says. "They want wild--or what I call wild-simulated root--and will pay premium prices for it," Wild roots are believed to be far more powerful. They are small, dark, rough, and gnarly, with concentric growth rings. Buyers can instantly discern the difference.

Hankins thinks Eastern forest owners have a unique opportunity to market ginseng, not only in China, but in the U.S. Demand at home has increased dramatically in recent years, and for obvious reasons consumers prefer roots without fungicides. "Commercial producers in North America, mainly in Wisconsin, Ontario, and most recently British Columbia, are crumbling," Hankins says. "What small private forest owners can supply on a long-term basis is wild ginseng."

A breakthrough about ginseng's soil chemistry enhances the possibilities. "Ginseng likes a lot of calcium," Hankins said, "but in the form of gypsum, which is calcium sulfate, not carbonate. Soil acidity should stay around 5 on a pH scale, to keep the rots from developing."

So far, in my dry woods, I found deer to be a bigger threat than fungi until my husband arched some old fence over our small patch. By sheer luck, no chipmunks or groundhogs have yet found it.

I look around. It is morning, and golden flecks of rising sun slide along the ginseng leaves. A scarlet tanager sings. I'm thinking about expanding the patch, not necessarily for sale, but for home use of the roots. If they don't make us rich, at least they'll keep us in a healthy state of paranoia. AF

Chris Bolgiano, a long-time contributor to American Forests, is the author of The Appalachian Forest, A Search for Roots and Renewal.

THE BASICS

PLANTING GINSENG

1 The first step is site selection: North- or east-facing slopes with at least a 75 percent shade canopy of deciduous trees are best. "Companion" plants that indicate a good site include Jack-in-the-pulpit, bloodroot, Solomon's seal, jewel weed, galax, trillium, wild yam, hepatica, black cohosh, and wild ginger. Soil must be well-drained. And the site should not be in plain view of a road or trail.

2 Define a bed 3 to 5 feet wide and up to 50 feet long, running up and down rather than across the slope for better air and water movement. Rake the leaves down to bare soil but do not rip out the undergrowth; plant through it or around any dense patches.

3 With a hoe, make furrows 1 inch deep and 18 inches apart. In November, when leaves are down, plant seeds 3 inches apart and firm the soil over them. Gypsum or rock phosphate may be applied over the surf face. Rake 1 inch of leaves back aver the bed as mulch. Seeds germinate in the spring. No further work is required until roots are dug 5 to 10 years later.

GINSENG AND COMMUNITY FORESTS

There's no disputing American ginseng's value--both for the cash this endangered species' roots can bring and for its importance as a nontimber forest product. AMERICAN FORESTS last spring held a week-long training and education event focused on helping policymakers and industry groups learn about community-based forestry initiatives. The sessions, conducted with the National Network of Forest Practitioners, the Communities Committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress, and the Pinchot Institute, included a presentation about nontimber forest products. AMERICAN FORESTS also participated in a congressional oversight hearing in summer 1998, which discussed the Forest Service's progress on developing and implementing harvesting and monitoring programs to ensure the long-term viability of nontimber forest products.