Man digs up 300 stress relief plants from VA national park, gets prison, feds say
A man will serve prison time after pleading guilty to illegally digging up a medicinal plant on national park land in Virginia, federal prosecutors said.
He was sentenced to 30 days in prison, ordered to pay more than $6,200 in restitution and banned for three years from the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where the ginseng was stolen from, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia said in an April 14 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to the man’s attorney April 15 but did not receive an immediate response.
National Park Service rangers determined he poached more than 300 ginseng roots from the park, prosecutors said.
“Our national parks and the resources within, like Ginseng, are natural resources maintained for the benefit of all our citizens and not forms of currency to be poached and sold-off for profit,” Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary Lee said in the release. “This case is a warning to those who may try to use these resources for their own benefit.”
What is ginseng?
Ginseng is a popular herb found in forests along the eastern U.S. and can be used for managing stress, treating indigestion and infertility, according to experts.
In 1975, the plant was listed as endangered out of “concerns of overharvest for international trade,” according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Harvesting wild ginseng is illegal on most state lands, national forests and all national parks, according to the agency.
