April 16, 2008
(ASHEVILLE, NC) - United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the Western District of North Carolina and Blue Ridge Parkway Chief Ranger John Garrison of the National Park Service hosted a press conference today at Parkway Headquarters in Asheville to announce a series of significant galax poaching convictions in the Western District of North Carolina. Shappert and Garrison were joined by uniformed officers from the U.S. Forest Service and Mount Mitchell State Park, and other federal and state government agencies charged with responsibility to preserve and maintain the flora of the national forests located in the western North Carolina mountains. Today's conference was held not only to announce numerous convictions and the resulting penalties handed down for galax poaching violations through the U.S. Courts for the Western District of North Carolina, but to advise and remind the public of the closed seasons for gathering galax on National Forests and to warn the public of magnified officer presence along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, where it is illegal to collect galax at any time of year.
Historically, the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway between its junction with NC State Highway 80 and Mount Mitchell State Park (Yancey County) has been an area heavily impacted by commercial galax poachers. Special coordinated law enforcement operations to detect, track, and apprehend those involved in this unlawful activity along this portion of the Parkway are ongoing. Conducted cooperatively among rangers and officers of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Yancey and Buncombe County Sheriffs' Offices, and Mount Mitchell State Park, these operations since mid-February 2008 have resulted in the arrest of ten individuals. More than 50,000 galax plants were seized during the course of these special operations.
When gathered, galax is sold to nearby galax warehouses where leaves are in turn sold to local florists for flower arrangements and/or further exported. Galax brings anywhere from a penny to five cents per leaf. Galax continues to be the most popular botanical product available under permit from the National Forests. Because of biological concerns regarding the sustainability of harvest levels, U.S. Forests in North Carolina will continue a spring closure period for the gathering of galax from April 15, 2008 through June 15, 2008. This increased spring closure period is necessary for the prevention of further damage to galax plants during their rapid new growth period during these weeks in the spring.
National Park and U.S. Forest Service lands have been severely impacted by poachers in Western North Carolina to the point where significant, otherwise healthy galax populations are diminishing, or have completely disappeared. Although permits to collect galax lawfully may be issued through the U.S. Forest Service during particular months, investigation has revealed that most of those checked who even possess a permit are in violation of the law by either being on National Park Service lands (where galax collection is unlawful any time of year) or not in compliance with the conditions of the permit. Galax poaching for commercial purposes is often an organized effort and law enforcement has answered with their ongoing organized efforts to curb the ravaging of the natural galax beds.
Of the ten individuals arrested during special law enforcement operations along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina earlier this year, two were juveniles. Six of the remaining eight (first offenders) entered pleas of guilty before Federal Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Howell of Asheville and each was sentenced to 30 days in jail, required to pay a fine, and banned from federal lands for two years. Two of the ten (second offenders) received a six-month term of imprisonment for conspiracy and the other one was credited for time served. Defendants Federico Solis and his wife, Carmen Reyes, of Burnsville (Yancey County) NC were in possession of three full duffel bags of galax plants containing approximately 30,000 leaves, at the time of their arrests. According to the U.S. Forest Service, there has been a total of 12 arrests and 42 citations issued for galax poaching in the Western District of North Carolina since January 2008.
The seasonal gathering of botanicals such as galax represents a rich local cultural tradition in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and over the years has been known to provide economic benefit to local communities. The illegal harvesting of galax plants for commercial sale in the floral markets has become a serious concern along the Blue Ridge Parkway where individual poachers have been intercepted leaving the park with tens of thousands of galax plants. The close proximity of vulnerable galax beds to the Blue Ridge Parkway makes them particularly well suited to poaching activity.
U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert thanked and commended the representatives of the various law enforcement agencies. "The preservation of our National Forests and Parks is a public trust. We are obligated to protect them, not only for ourselves, but for future generations who will come after us. Part of that trust responsibility is maintaining the delicate balance of wildlife and flora that have flourished in western North Carolina for centuries," Shappert said. "The National Forests belong to everyone. Individuals who seek to use our forests for private gain in violation of federal law, will be dealt with severely," she added.
Blue Ridge Parkway Chief Ranger John Garrison of the National Park Service said, "When galax is illegally taken and sold, it is theft for personal gain, just the same as stealing gravel from a DOT stockpile and selling it, or stealing timber from a private landowner and selling it. There is one additional impact in that the theft of galax has risen to a level that now threatens the health of the plant along the Blue Ridge Parkway and on other lands. I am encouraged that both private property owners and public land management agencies are supporting this enhanced enforcement effort to protect the natural heritage of our mountains."
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