Angels and Off-roots: Emerging Trends in the Appalachian Herb and Root Trade

Preface: This paper gives a current overview of the trade in native medicinal plants in the Appalachian region, including the economic and cultural significance of the practice, and emerging issues facing participants including market shifts, policy changes, and issues of sustainability. Abstract: Collecting and selling herbs and roots is an important source of livelihood and income in the Appalachian region. It is also an expression of cultural identity. These relationship between people and plants are often multi-generational and locally distinctive, but simultaneously part of a lucrative global industry going back to the seventeenth century. Ginseng may be the most iconic Appalachian non-timber forest product, but a host of other medicinal, edible and decorative species are harvested in Appalachian forests. Outside of the mostly informal trading community little is known about the structure and size of the market for these other products and how they get from forests to consumers. Based on an ongoing multi-method study at Virginia Tech, this paper gives an overview of the history and current state of the trade in a variety of native medicinal plants. We will identify the challenges and opportunities of non-timber forest products from surveys and qualitative interviews with medicinal plant buyers. These include a growing market at home and abroad, changing government policies and regulations, local economic pressures, cultivation and local manufacturing of non-timber forest products, the effect of harvesting on wild plant populations, portrayals of the industry in media, and a perceived disconnect between industry participants, researchers and policymakers