86 



growers in Washington and Oregon are selling Echinacea roots for $13.00 per pound to 

 manufacturers and grossing $9,333 per acre from Echinacea crops, and a range of from $5,000- 

 $9,000 per acre for medicinal herbs in general. Ginseng diggers are getting $230 per pound for 

 wild ginseng. Goldenseal sells for $30 per pound with approximately 65,000 pounds sold in 

 1992. Each of these botanicals are primary candidates for cultivation due to the decline of their 

 natural habitats. 



Strengthening the Endangered Species Act 



The American Herbalists Guild strongly supports additional protection of sensitive, 

 threatened or endangered plants under the Endangered Species Protection Act. Unfortunately, 

 there are a wide array of parameters presently with regards to what level of "criticalness" a 

 species is defined. There are Federal parameters. Fish and Wildlife have different parameters, 

 the nature Conservancy has their own guidelines, while individual states have their own. We 

 would like to make the following recommendations to this Committee. 



• Work toward developing a national forum in which the varying organizations can come 

 together to discuss reforming the Endangered Species Act and the parameters by which 

 sensitive, threatened or endangered species are defined. 



• Strengthen current national protection standards that will provide meaningful protection for 

 sensitive, threatened or endangered species. 



• Realize the economic benerits associated with environmental preservation through the 

 development of sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants both as modern drugs and 

 traditional medicines. 



• Act as a liaison to other Committees and Government Agencies in helping each to realize the 

 importance of supporting the inclusion of medicinal plants into the health care delivery 

 system. 



• Work in concert with herbal organizations to develop national wild-crafting guidelines that 

 reflect the environmental needs of a variety of bio-regions. 



• Work toward establishing a permit system by which experienced wildcrafters could have 

 access to national and state parks for the express purpose of gathering medicinal plants 

 according to defined guidelines. 



76-103 O - 94 (92) 



