Class Notes from Lesson 9-11 Constitutional

 Lesson 9-11: Wildcrafting 2

Different regs between harvesting in national parks and wilderness areas. Personal ethics. That is a sticky subject. Lets face it... there are so many laws on the books... some really crazy and never enforced. No matter how hard we try, we break the law frequently. So, basically... you are deciding which laws you feel comfortable breaking. You have to square this with your morals. Is breaking this law actually doing any harm to anyone or anything? If not... what are the odds of getting aught, and what are the consequences?

Importance of positive ID. Picture field guides are not as good as using keys for id. Know what it is before you harvest. Observing sites to harvest at the proper time. Resist picking rare herbs, when so many other more common ones will do the same thing. Make sure it is the best stand - many be better/bigger stand nearby. One you've harvested a plant once, you begin to see more of it all around you. Pay attention to elevation - some plants grow better at certain elevations. Don't pick by roads and trails. Avoid people. Look for healthy plants. Be careful of chemical contamination. Look out for poisonous plants. Avoid poop. Avoid going into sensitive/fragile ecological areas. Clear cuts are often good places to harvest as the plants are growing back.

Don't harvest rare, threatened endangered plants - I'll add a caveat to that.... if a site is about to be graded/destroyed by construction, get permission and DO try to transplant rare plants to a safer site. Any that get damaged and won't survive transplant, you can harvest knowing they would have been destroyed anyway. Definitely a good idea to check for plants on such sites - see if you can take cuttings or save seeds, as well. Be aware of sensitive plants - plants you can't harvest a part from without killing the whole plant.

"Threatened and Endangered" are legal terms. Those plants will be on the official list. https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/java/ Many groups are against wildcrafting... they try to shame people into not harvesting any plants. Oddly enough, I don't see them trying to stop WalMart from grading and paving 10 acres for a store. They say "tisk, tisk" to people who are responsible stewards and users of nature. They get a lot of grant money and donations... from WalMart and such.... Microsoft and Google... "carbon offsets", "green-washing" keeps them from hassling the big guys who actually do the harm.... especially universities and municipalities that eat up and pave land like few other entities.... they won't cross professors or bureaucrats. They would love to be able to tell you and me what we can and cannot do. They are particularly dangerous when they get influence in government. Think of them as like a Property Owner's Association.... avoid them, shun them, spit on them, ridicule their self-righteous hypocrisy.

Pick no more than you can use. Pick small amounts and pick more often. Have the right equipment. Visit sites often to learn the sites and the plants. Wildcrafting is stewardship.

Here is the link to the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine Course

https://www.swsbm.com/school/