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Feds jail ginseng poacher as wild plants face risk

In this Aug. 21, 2014 photo Jim Corbin, a plant protection specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, walks through the forest near Bryson City, N.C., looking for wild ginseng plants. The legal ginseng hunting season begins Sept. 16, and Corbin and his colleagues are spreading harmless yellow dye on the plant’s roots to discourage poachers. He says dealers are alerted not to buy plants with the dyed roots. But with wild ginseng root fetching upward of $900 a pound, untold numbers of poachers have taken to local forests. (AP Photo/Mitch Weiss)
In this Aug. 21, 2014 photo Jim Corbin, a plant protection specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, walks through the forest near Bryson City, N.C., looking for wild ginseng plants. The legal ginseng hunting season begins Sept. 16, and Corbin and his colleagues are spreading harmless yellow dye on the plant’s roots to discourage poachers. He says dealers are alerted not to buy plants with the dyed roots. But with wild ginseng root fetching upward of $900 a pound, untold numbers of poachers have taken to local forests. (AP Photo/Mitch Weiss)

By Associated Press 4 min read

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Broke and down on his luck, Billy Joe Hurley turned to the only way he knew how to make a living: poaching ginseng.

But after his latest in a long string of arrests, federal prosecutors had enough.

They told a U.S. magistrate Thursday that poaching by Hurley and others in the national forests in western North Carolina has dramatically reduced the numbers of wild ginseng – a humble looking plant whose roots can fetch more than $900 a pound.

Prosecutor David Thorne said they needed to send a message: Illegal ginseng harvesting won’t be tolerated.

Hurley, 46, of Bryson City, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 5½ months in jail – the fifth time in a decade that Hurley has been sentenced for illegal possession or harvesting of ginseng. He could have received up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.