Ramps or wild leeks, native of rich woodlands in the eastern US are becoming vulnerable to over harvesting, especially due to increased demand by the culinary trade.
Here is a quick summary of the current pressures harvestors are placing on wild ramps and some alternatives to destroying whole plants. While not quite a blog my long article goes into a lot more detail.
You may see them offered for sale in specialty food stores, health food stores, farm stores, farmer’s markets, on the internet and on restaurant menus. Recommendations are not to purchase whole plants and bulbs.
In recent years:
Large Increase in media attention has brought unprecedented demand upon this plant especially in the culinary industry
Increase in commercial and individual harvesting activities
Increase in commercial and retail sales
Negative Results:
Habitat disturbance
Increase vulnerability to invasive plants
Over harvesting
In some cases whole clumps wiped out
Reduced sustainability of the plant
Reduced ability of the plant to reproduce; long recovery time after harvesting
Increased susceptibility because of other conditions such as climate change and overgrazing
Recommendations:
Consumers
Harvest leaves only
Harvest not more than 20% of leaves from any single clump
Do not purchase whole plants from markets
Do not order dishes containing ramp bulbs
Encourage your restaurant or store to sell leaves only
Speak up
Chefs and food purveyors
Cease buying whole plants and bulbs
Cease serving and selling whole plants and bulbs.
Use sustainably harvested leaves only
Harvestors
Cease all commercial harvesting of whole plants
Harvest leaves only, not more than 20% in any year
Keep track of where you have harvested and when
Lawrence Davis-Hollander is an ethnobotanist, former director and founder of the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy, author of Tomato: A Fresh from the Vine Cookbook, and president of botanicalposters.com, the artwork of his wife Margo. His blogs can be found on http://botanicalposters.com/blog, http://blogs.grit.com/blogs and http://simpledailyrecipes.com.
I would be interested in seeing scientific evidence presented to support your claims about overharvest as such statements could greatly impact people who earn part of their income from commercial ramp harvesting. Also, is the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy leading any efforts to prevent habitat destrubtion from road building, mountaintop removal, logging and other high distrubance activities in areas where ramps grow?
Sincerely,
Eric Jones
Eric T Jones, Ph.D., Environmental Anthropologist
Institute for Culture and Ecology
PO Box 6688, Portland, Oregon 97228-6688.
Eric,
There are a couple of studies clearly showing over harvesting for example from Quebec and Smokey Mountains National Park, while neutral data from study plots in National Forest in NC. A variety of anecdotal and first hand observations especially from long time harvesters consistently points to reduction or removal of patches from Michigan all the way to NC. Not sure what your question about ENSC is-the organization never had that mission nor does it currently exist. The kinds of disturbances you point to are certainly additional reasons to be concerned about ramp harvesting.