SAMAB Conference and forest products

Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature.

Ginseng and goldenseal are widely known and used for their purported medicinal properties. Galax is a native plant harvested for use in flower arrangements. White oak is used in traditional Cherokee basket weaving. The Southern Appalachians are home to a botanical bounty of wild plants that have found plenty of human uses. In many cases, behind those uses is a market where these plants are bought and sold, usually legally, sometimes not so. A great challenge for all involved in the legal trade of these plants is ensuring they are properly managed and sustainably harvested.

The Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere program is a consortium of agencies working on natural resource conservation in the Southern Appalachians. Each year for its Fall Conference, SAMAB brings together members of academia, government agencies, non-profits, and the general public to explore important conservation issues in our region.

This year’s conference will be November 15-17 at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville. A major focus of this year’s gathering will be a look, from all perspectives, at these non-timber forest products and how they can be sustainably managed and harvested. Presentations will include everything from Cherokee ethnobotany to a buyer’s perspective on ginseng to plant poaching on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information visit www.SAMAB.org.

For WNCW and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, this is Gary Peeples.