Wednesday, Mar 5, 2008
On February 25th, David Fine, 35, of Newport, Tennessee, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for digging up and taking protected ginseng roots from the park. Fine was apprehended by rangers on September 8, 2006, in the Cosby area. When apprehended, he didn’t have any of the roots in his possession, but an investigation of the scene revealed 37 freshly disturbed spots in an area where ginseng plants were growing. Fine initially received a citation that required an appearance in federal court. When he failed to appear, a warrant was issued, and he subsequently pled guilty to the charge. Fine’s conviction marks the third case this year in which ginseng poachers were sentenced to jail time. On January 24th, two North Carolina men were convicted for ginseng poaching in two separate incidents. Norman McCoy, 50, of Cherokee, North Carolina, was sentenced to 20 days in jail and fined a total of $125 for possessing 18 wild ginseng roots, and Nicholas Bryson, 27, of Topton, North Carolina, was sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined $135 for possessing 77 roots. Illegal harvesting of plants is a serious problem in the park, particularly ginseng, a favorite target of poachers for its high profit margin in the black market. Its roots have been a traditional ingredient in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. In the international and domestic legal trade market, wild ginseng roots can bring from $500 to $800 per pound. The larger and older the root, the more profitable.
|
