MOSS MARKETING

By Diana K. Colvin, in Homes and Gardens of the Northwest, in The
Oregonian, April 10, 2003

Some people see more than shades of green when they look at moss.
They see money.
In Northwest forests, moss harvesting has grown into a
multi-millioon-dollar annual business. The gatherer usually doesn't
reap the riches; that's the reward of themiddleman who sells the
harvested moss ot the floral trade. Tons of moss are removed from
public lands every year with little or no regulation.
In the past decade or two, public land managers have begun to examine
harvesting. They have the authority to write permits for it but find
they lack basic information, such as how much moss there is, how fast
it regrows and how fast it's being removed, says Patricia Muir, a
professor of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University,
who's helping to fill the information gap. Managers have no
enforcement capability and know that a significant amount of moss is
harvested without permits. She says one Oregon district's permitted
harvest of fresh moss was 85,000 pounds in a year.
"It almost doesn't matter if anybody allows it, because it goes on,"
Muir says. The dried moss is used as mulch around potted plants.
Muir and ecologist Jeri Peck began looking at the situation in 1997
with funding from the Bureau of Land Management. Their research is
focused on Oregon forests.
They found varied moss "inventories," with the regrowth rates
remarkably slow, Muir says. They felt they started looking decades too
late, because so many areas already had been denuded.
"You can see it in forest areas near roads and along streamsides. If
you stop your car, you'll see the areas have been stripped," Muir
says.
Knowing that moss regrows so slowly, a number of federal agencies and
timber companies refuse to issue harvest permits, Muir says.
Enforcement issues also arise: as with wild-mushroom hunters, there
have been turf wars over territory, she says.
"There is this whole culture of harvesters," she says, ranging from
minimally paid illegal immigrants who work for a boss to independent
operators to mom-and-pop outfits.
Some obtain permits; many don't.
Some harvesters leave bits for regrowth, while others take it all,
stripping moss from trees, shrubs, rotting logs and even the forest
floor.
Muir is gathering information on international moss trading with a
grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servie. The service is
considering whether any mosses should be monitored by CITES, the
Convention on International Trade in Endangerd Species, known for
drawing attention to Ivory harvests.
Other Northwest forest products harvested as cash crops include
salal, sword fern and cascara.
"Our objective is not to shut down moss harvest but to make it
sustainable," Muir says.

Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

Daniel B. Wheeler wrote:
MOSS MARKETING

By Diana K. Colvin, in Homes and Gardens of the Northwest, in The
Oregonian, April 10, 2003

Some people see more than shades of green when they look at moss.
They see money.
In Northwest forests, moss harvesting has grown into a
multi-millioon-dollar annual business. The gatherer usually doesn't
reap the riches; that's the reward of themiddleman who sells the
harvested moss ot the floral trade. Tons of moss are removed from
public lands every year with little or no regulation.
In the past decade or two, public land managers have begun to examine
harvesting. They have the authority to write permits for it but find
they lack basic information, such as how much moss there is, how fast
it regrows and how fast it's being removed, says Patricia Muir, a
professor of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University,
who's helping to fill the information gap. Managers have no
enforcement capability and know that a significant amount of moss is
harvested without permits. She says one Oregon district's permitted
harvest of fresh moss was 85,000 pounds in a year.
"It almost doesn't matter if anybody allows it, because it goes on,"
Muir says. The dried moss is used as mulch around potted plants.
Muir and ecologist Jeri Peck began looking at the situation in 1997
with funding from the Bureau of Land Management. Their research is
focused on Oregon forests.
They found varied moss "inventories," with the regrowth rates
remarkably slow, Muir says. They felt they started looking decades too
late, because so many areas already had been denuded.
"You can see it in forest areas near roads and along streamsides. If
you stop your car, you'll see the areas have been stripped," Muir
says.
Knowing that moss regrows so slowly, a number of federal agencies and
timber companies refuse to issue harvest permits, Muir says.
Enforcement issues also arise: as with wild-mushroom hunters, there
have been turf wars over territory, she says.
"There is this whole culture of harvesters," she says, ranging from
minimally paid illegal immigrants who work for a boss to independent
operators to mom-and-pop outfits.
Some obtain permits; many don't.
Some harvesters leave bits for regrowth, while others take it all,
stripping moss from trees, shrubs, rotting logs and even the forest
floor.
Muir is gathering information on international moss trading with a
grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servie. The service is
considering whether any mosses should be monitored by CITES, the
Convention on International Trade in Endangerd Species, known for
drawing attention to Ivory harvests.
Other Northwest forest products harvested as cash crops include
salal, sword fern and cascara.
"Our objective is not to shut down moss harvest but to make it
sustainable," Muir says.

Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com


Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.

Mike H wrote in message ...
[snip]

Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.

Like the wild mushroom industry, I'm not sure anyone really does want
to do that. But there is concern, both within the industry and out, of
the sustainability issue. Keep in mind that in 1990 ocean fish
resources were thought to be nearly infinate, even by the most
informed sources. Yet Canary rockfish are now considered vastly
over-fished off the Western US coast, and the fishing industry is
reeling (sorry) from recent restrictions.

Similarly, not much is known about the sustainability of moss and its
ability to recovery from widespread harvesting. Most marketers are
unfamiliar with the species being harvested, even.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

"Mike H" wrote in message
...
Daniel B. Wheeler wrote:
MOSS MARKETING

By Diana K. Colvin, in Homes and Gardens of the Northwest, in The
Oregonian, April 10, 2003

Some people see more than shades of green when they look at moss.
They see money.
In Northwest forests, moss harvesting has grown into a
multi-millioon-dollar annual business. The gatherer usually doesn't
reap the riches; that's the reward of themiddleman who sells the
harvested moss ot the floral trade. Tons of moss are removed from
public lands every year with little or no regulation.
In the past decade or two, public land managers have begun to examine
harvesting. They have the authority to write permits for it but find
they lack basic information, such as how much moss there is, how fast
it regrows and how fast it's being removed, says Patricia Muir, a
professor of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University,
who's helping to fill the information gap. Managers have no
enforcement capability and know that a significant amount of moss is
harvested without permits. She says one Oregon district's permitted
harvest of fresh moss was 85,000 pounds in a year.
"It almost doesn't matter if anybody allows it, because it goes on,"
Muir says. The dried moss is used as mulch around potted plants.
Muir and ecologist Jeri Peck began looking at the situation in 1997
with funding from the Bureau of Land Management. Their research is
focused on Oregon forests.
They found varied moss "inventories," with the regrowth rates
remarkably slow, Muir says. They felt they started looking decades too
late, because so many areas already had been denuded.
"You can see it in forest areas near roads and along streamsides. If
you stop your car, you'll see the areas have been stripped," Muir
says.
Knowing that moss regrows so slowly, a number of federal agencies and
timber companies refuse to issue harvest permits, Muir says.
Enforcement issues also arise: as with wild-mushroom hunters, there
have been turf wars over territory, she says.
"There is this whole culture of harvesters," she says, ranging from
minimally paid illegal immigrants who work for a boss to independent
operators to mom-and-pop outfits.
Some obtain permits; many don't.
Some harvesters leave bits for regrowth, while others take it all,
stripping moss from trees, shrubs, rotting logs and even the forest
floor.
Muir is gathering information on international moss trading with a
grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servie. The service is
considering whether any mosses should be monitored by CITES, the
Convention on International Trade in Endangerd Species, known for
drawing attention to Ivory harvests.
Other Northwest forest products harvested as cash crops include
salal, sword fern and cascara.
"Our objective is not to shut down moss harvest but to make it
sustainable," Muir says.

Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com


Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.

Well, maybe if we hung a few of these horrible criminals- this crime wave
would stop! G Maybe the prez. should got on TV and call for a major war
against these evil doers! Find their houses and drop some bunker busters on
them!

Actually, though, it is an interesting question. I'm sure the moss does
serve some good ecological function.

JZ

snip

Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.


Well, maybe if we hung a few of these horrible criminals- this crime wave
would stop! G Maybe the prez. should got on TV and call for a major war
against these evil doers! Find their houses and drop some bunker busters on
them!

Actually, though, it is an interesting question. I'm sure the moss does
serve some good ecological function.

JZ


I've got nothing against underground economies. For people who've been
through several boom/bust cycles in timber country, knowing how to make
a few bucks under the table is pure survival, like smoking salmon and
getting your yearly elk. What's obnoxius about this though is that some
of the folk doing it are so far under the table they don't know where
National Park boundaries are and they've cleaned out some formerly
awe-inspiring rain forest scenes. THAT kind of "moss" - the ferns,
epiphytes and bryophytes hanging off Bigleaf Maples especially - is very
slow growing and ecologically intriguing stuff.

When I was (HA!) controlling special forest product harvest on corporate
lands, I would sell brush and moss leases in key spots, and let the
permit holders decide who got to pick. They limited abuse (like cutting
trees down for the moss) and knew who was doing what for miles around.
Same as with the other SFPs, it's best to put those who know the chicken
stealing game best in charge of the henhouse.

"Mike H" wrote in message
...
snip

Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.


Well, maybe if we hung a few of these horrible criminals- this crime
wave
would stop! G Maybe the prez. should got on TV and call for a major
war
against these evil doers! Find their houses and drop some bunker busters
on
them!

Actually, though, it is an interesting question. I'm sure the moss does
serve some good ecological function.

JZ


I've got nothing against underground economies. For people who've been
through several boom/bust cycles in timber country, knowing how to make
a few bucks under the table is pure survival, like smoking salmon and
getting your yearly elk. What's obnoxius about this though is that some
of the folk doing it are so far under the table they don't know where
National Park boundaries are and they've cleaned out some formerly
awe-inspiring rain forest scenes. THAT kind of "moss" - the ferns,
epiphytes and bryophytes hanging off Bigleaf Maples especially - is very
slow growing and ecologically intriguing stuff.

When I was (HA!) controlling special forest product harvest on corporate
lands, I would sell brush and moss leases in key spots, and let the
permit holders decide who got to pick. They limited abuse (like cutting
trees down for the moss) and knew who was doing what for miles around.
Same as with the other SFPs, it's best to put those who know the chicken
stealing game best in charge of the henhouse.


So, can't the Forest Circus and the states also figure out how to control
this problem?

JZ

"Joe Zorzin" wrote in message ...
"Mike H" wrote in message
...
snip

Most of these greens go to the floral industry. A surprisingly large
part of it to Europe. It's a sizable underground economy and would be
just about impossible to stop, if anyone wanted to.


Well, maybe if we hung a few of these horrible criminals- this crime
wave
would stop! G Maybe the prez. should got on TV and call for a major
war
against these evil doers! Find their houses and drop some bunker busters
on
them!

Actually, though, it is an interesting question. I'm sure the moss does
serve some good ecological function.

JZ


I've got nothing against underground economies. For people who've been
through several boom/bust cycles in timber country, knowing how to make
a few bucks under the table is pure survival, like smoking salmon and
getting your yearly elk. What's obnoxius about this though is that some
of the folk doing it are so far under the table they don't know where
National Park boundaries are and they've cleaned out some formerly
awe-inspiring rain forest scenes. THAT kind of "moss" - the ferns,
epiphytes and bryophytes hanging off Bigleaf Maples especially - is very
slow growing and ecologically intriguing stuff.

When I was (HA!) controlling special forest product harvest on corporate
lands, I would sell brush and moss leases in key spots, and let the
permit holders decide who got to pick. They limited abuse (like cutting
trees down for the moss) and knew who was doing what for miles around.
Same as with the other SFPs, it's best to put those who know the chicken
stealing game best in charge of the henhouse.


So, can't the Forest Circus and the states also figure out how to control
this problem?

Better check Mike's comments again, Joseph. Aren't the chicken
stealers already in charge of the henhouse?

Daniel B. Wheeler.
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

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So, can't the Forest Circus and the states also figure out how to control
this problem?


Better check Mike's comments again, Joseph. Aren't the chicken
stealers already in charge of the henhouse?
ww.oregonwhitetruffles.com

it actually works. The abuses are from the free lancers - those who do
not have a LARGE deposit held by the landowner. Even tank-trapping
roads doesn't stop the midnight entrepreneur, but you find out who they
are right quick. If only the local courts would enforce existing SFP
(and also timber trespass) laws, then you'd have some control. As it is
the best control for free lancers is to have the Border Patrol drive by
occasionally...