ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280081
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
The prices of ginseng, firewood and other products the public harvests in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests have changed.
Ginseng collection fees for the 1996 season, Sept. 15 through Nov. 30, have increased $7, to $20 per pound, with a two-pound minimum purchase.
The increase corresponds with an increase in the wholesale market price of ginseng, a perennial herb whose roots are used to make a tonic, the agency said. The Forest Service tries to set prices at 20 percent of a product's wholesale price.
The minimum purchase of firewood has been set at three cords, with the $5-per-cord fee unchanged. A cord is equal to 128 cubic feet of wood, or a pile 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. The annual limit on firewood gathering is 6 cords. Firewood must not be longer than 6 feet in length when it's loaded onto a truck.
The Forest Service also issues permits for the gathering of such items as tree seedlings, shrubbery, pine cones, ferns, moss, grapevines and medicinal roots. The minimum purchase for all those items is $15, but quantities vary.
Permits and specific information for each item are available at district ranger offices.
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