The international black market trade of ginseng and black bears has come to Shenandoah National Park, threatening the park's natural resources. Diminishing populations of bears and ginseng in Asia have drawn poachers to this country and to the national parks. Both species are used in traditional Chinese medicine and command a premium in the black market, enticing a growing number of thieves.
Wild ginseng fetches as much as $365 per pound on the black market, and a gallon of gall bladder bile from black bears yields as much as $3,000.
"Commercialization of protected natural resources is a nationwide, worldwide problem," says Superintendent Douglas Morris, "and some of that begins right here in Shenandoah National Park."
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Park Service recently held a joint news conference announcing results of a multi-year, undercover investigation that confirmed a demand for ginseng and black bears in and around the Virginia mountains and Shenandoah. Investigators reported more than 700 crimes by more than 100 people trafficking the resources to seven states, including New York and California, and overseas.
Many parks lack the money and staff to protect natural resources from poaching. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, more than 11,000 ginseng roots have been taken in the past ten years, and NPCA listed poaching as one of the threats facing the park in its State of the Parks report to be released in April.
"People are stealing the resources out of national parks and exploiting them for personal gain," says Joy Oakes, NPCA's Mid-Atlantic regional director. "It is very labor-intensive for park staff to protect these resources, and it comes down to a need for more people and money."
The applications of ginseng in Chinese medicine include stress relief and mental sharpness, while bear parts are used to treat pain and respiratory ailments. Whole bears and their gall bladders, paws, and other parts are trafficked for high profits. About 40,000 black bears are illegally killed each year in America, hundreds from national parks. Officials have uncovered more than 70 shipments of black bear parts sent to Asia since 1995.
