Ginseng roots highly valued

MAMMOTH CAVE Ky.- Mammoth Cave National Park. A place with a wide variety of wild and plant life, including the American ginseng root. Recently, two individuals were accused of poaching 100 roots. This is an illegal act, especially on the grounds of a National Park.

“It’s not a new occurrence. Ginseng has been around for many years and people have been gathering it for many years. It is illegal to take it from the national park lands, so we do our best to try to stop poachers or people from coming and taking it from the park,” Said Mammoth Cave Public Information Officer Molly Schroer.

According to health articles like Web MD, Ginseng can be used to relieve stress and boost the immune system. It can also be used for various medicines and teas.

On the black market it can fetch between $500 to $1000 a pound.

Professor of Biology at Western Kentucky University, Dr. Albert Meier said the population isn’t that big to begin with, leading to its high demand.

“Any individual population tends to be rather small. The largest population I’m aware of growing wild are 800 or fewer,” Meier said.

While they’re spread thin, Meier said Kentucky is a prime spot for ginseng.

“Kentucky has better populations of American ginseng probably than any other state, and the largest individual population. Almost all of the populations are growing at extraordinarily slow rates,” Meier said.

With the recent situation, Mammoth Cave has methods to ensure this doesn’t happen often.

“We put that dye on the roots that we confiscate from poachers when we catch them. Our botanists have also been able to put the dye on plants already in the ground that haven’t been harvested. Those will show up in a black light. That’s a way of being proactive, so we can get the dye on the roots and we can start tracking them through our park,” Schroer said.

Mammoth Cave has since taken those poached ginseng roots and replanted them.