This op-ed is the continuation of a series in which the diverse groups and individuals associated with Rolling Thunder/Asheville raise issues of concern to the people of Western North Carolina. Robert A. Eidus is the founder of the Southern Appalachian School for growing medicinal plants. The views expressed in this series of articles do not necessarily reflect the positions of Rolling Thunder/Asheville.

Western North Carolina is blessed with an abundance of native wild medicinal plants, a treasure that should be cherished by all who live and visit in this part of the world. But, this great gift is fast disappearing as modern-day factors have come into play in our bioregional home. Unless we consciously take action to reverse the trend we are going to lose the irreplaceable.

The crux of the problem in maintaining endangered medicinal plant populations is twofold: first is over harvesting and second is the disappearance of habitat.

Wild crafting, or harvesting of wild plants like goldenseal, is not a sustainable practice. As far back as 1884, doctors in Cincinnati prophesized that this wonderful plant would disappear due to over-harvesting and needed to be cultivated. By 1994 goldenseal was endangered in 16 of the 22 states in its natural range. It is an endangered plant in North Carolina, which is part of that habitat. If only for this reason, we should be encouraging the cultivation of Hydrastis canadensis and other native medicinal plants in an effort to bring them back in bountiful numbers throughout the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

The loss of habitat is a direct result of new human development despite the natural limitations for population growth provided by our mountainous terrain. As more and more people move into rural areas, they seem to prefer living on or near the tops of mountains and go plowing ahead, bulldozing without consideration for the habitat they are destroying.

At a conference I once attended at Warren Wilson College, a priest from Greensboro asked the question: “Do plants and animals have a right to a decent habitat?” He put forth the proposition that this was a basic God given right and not something that human beings should be taking away. Living by this principle, those of us who have moved to a place that has been losing plant habitat due to human population growth should take responsibility for our actions by making a personal decision to cultivate the medicinal plants we are displacing and curtailing the endangerment of those species.

Native woodland botanicals live in an unusual environment. They thrive on north-facing, well-drained slopes under a high shaded canopy of hardwood trees. The shrinking environment that native medicinal plants prefer has a soil that is very unique. The heavily composted leaf or bark mulch soil is what these plants need; keeping in mind that healthy soil produces healthy plants. Proper cultivation of wild plants demands knowledge of woodland soil, the construction of terraced woodland beds, as well as permaculture and biodynamic farming principals and practices. It is also helpful to understand the linkage of indicator plants to healthy soils.

There are two main groups of trees or tree communities that tend to grow on the north-facing slope. The first likes an acid soil and produces this acid soil from the runoff from the leaves or from their needles. These are in the family of evergreens including rhododendrons, mountain laurel and hemlock species. Some medicinal plants, like one of the lady slippers, love this soil. However, the vast majority of woodland botanicals live under “sweet” soil trees, like tulip poplar, beech, maple, basswood and dogwood.

A very good non-profit organization fighting for threatened and endangered plants is United Plant Savers. Check out their web site at www.unitedplantsavers.org and note the “at-risk” category of medicinal plants that can be home cultivated. In addition, the Southern Appalachian School for Growing Medicinal Plants can be found at www.madisonfarms.org/school.