The Republicans have no respect for public lands. That is evident throughout their exploitation of our natural resources. They simply believe public lands should be trampled and used as anyone pleases. They are law breakers.
I can understand how veterans want to see memorials, but, so does the rest of the nation. The Republicans want the nation to believe the monies spent on the National Park Service is a waste of money.
Not.
The National Park Service are officers of the law. They put their lives on the line no different than any other officer. Remember, was it last year, when a Olympic Park Officers was killed? A woman. She died while visitors to the park were pinned down in a building. Everyone else was safe.
These officers protect our public lands. What is occurring while The National Park Service is on furlough is poaching. Law breaking. Damage to our public lands.
...These were the Hurley boys, (click here) notorious for rustling wild ginseng roots, a federal crime in the park. Inside
the backpack were 805 wild ginseng roots, resembling dirty wrinkled
fingers and weighing in at a hefty 11.22 pounds — worth $600 a pound in
local markets at the time.
I can understand how veterans want to see memorials, but, so does the rest of the nation. The Republicans want the nation to believe the monies spent on the National Park Service is a waste of money.
Not.
The National Park Service are officers of the law. They put their lives on the line no different than any other officer. Remember, was it last year, when a Olympic Park Officers was killed? A woman. She died while visitors to the park were pinned down in a building. Everyone else was safe.
These officers protect our public lands. What is occurring while The National Park Service is on furlough is poaching. Law breaking. Damage to our public lands.
Billy
Joe and Jeffrey Hurley were later convicted, and more than 650 of the
roots they had illegally harvested were replanted by park botanists. But
even with the replanting program and vigilant rangers, the park is
losing its battle against poachers. High ginseng demand and soaring
prices have sent thieves tramping through the vast park to strip the
landscape.
"We're
barely putting a dent in it," said District Ranger Joe Pond, an
enforcement officer who has chased ginseng poachers through the forest.
"For every one we catch, at least 10 more get away."
Demand
is nearly insatiable in Asia, especially China, where wild ginseng is
prized as a folk medicine, aphrodisiac, health tonic and all-around
energy booster. The root is sold to China by licensed U.S. dealers, who
also supply Chinatowns in cities such as New York and San Francisco with
legal ginseng harvested by written permission on private land.
Asian users consider American wild ginseng (panax quinquefolius)
far more potent than its cultivated alternative. Wild ginseng roots
sell for $300 or $400 a dry pound in early summer, rising to $900 or
more by fall. The price hit $1,200 a pound in 1998, triggering a
poaching surge that continues today....
September 5, 2013 8:14 AM
(CBS News) Millions of Americans take ginseng for its perceived
health benefits. The harvest for wild American ginseng begins this
month. It's also high-season for poaching. That's leading to a serious
problem: the plant's popularity could lead to its demise.
Nine million people per year visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. No national park is more popular, or more threatened by ginseng poachers.
Ranger Joe Pond showed CBS News the largest protected ginseng habitat in America. Taking it from a national park is illegal. Pond said, "It's the root that they're after. You see how dense the forest is, you could dig through here most of the day and it would be hard to detect you were even back in here."
Stolen roots were recovered by rangers two weeks ago from a pair of suspected thieves.
The roots don't look like much, but can sell for more than $800 per pound.
Some days the rangers win. In 2010, they arrested Billy Joe Hurley. He pled guilty to poaching 11 pounds of ginseng. But the park spreads across a half million acres and only 30 rangers patrol it. Pond said, "For every one we catch I'd probably say 10 get away. It's hard to say how many are actively out there."...
Nine million people per year visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. No national park is more popular, or more threatened by ginseng poachers.
Ranger Joe Pond showed CBS News the largest protected ginseng habitat in America. Taking it from a national park is illegal. Pond said, "It's the root that they're after. You see how dense the forest is, you could dig through here most of the day and it would be hard to detect you were even back in here."
Stolen roots were recovered by rangers two weeks ago from a pair of suspected thieves.
The roots don't look like much, but can sell for more than $800 per pound.
Some days the rangers win. In 2010, they arrested Billy Joe Hurley. He pled guilty to poaching 11 pounds of ginseng. But the park spreads across a half million acres and only 30 rangers patrol it. Pond said, "For every one we catch I'd probably say 10 get away. It's hard to say how many are actively out there."...
