Ethical Wildcrafting: Is There Such a Thing?

We are now at the threshold of summer when the growth in our forests and fields is in full swing and the plants await our picking!

Wildcrafting, or the harvesting of plants from the wild, is becoming more popular as natural health alternatives are shared in social media and do it yourself skin care techniques and raw materials are being sought out.

This is a great sign that humanity is realizing the power of the natural world and that, as part of the natural world, our bodies will respond positively to natural remedies. There is however, a very real danger that we will overharvest medicinal plants that are already facing endangerment or incorrectly harvest a plant (for its bark for instance) and kill an entire stand of trees in the process.

Urban Sprawl

In southern Ontario, we’ve seen the constant and relentless expansion of suburbs in most small towns that happen to be remotely close to Toronto. This population sprawl seems to be never ending and in every direction (except south of course).

More Doesn’t Mean Better

Along with this “improvement”, comes the complete destruction of centuries old forests, fields and wildlife habitats. The waterways aren’t even safe as they must be re-routed or updated to accommodate the new subdivisions being built.

Twice I have moved away from Toronto and twice now I have seen the calm, relaxed and picturesque environment in which I lived destroyed to make room for big houses on small lots, more street lights, stop signs and more traffic that we all say is killing the environment.

Along with this systemic destruction, we’re not only removing crucial wildlife habitat and using up farmland below the permafrost line but we’re decimating the medicinal plants native to Ontario, many of which are already endangered (for those interested visit www.unitedplantsavers.org).

Click here to read the whole blog post over on HerbalNorth.ca…

 

Bev McLeish
Chartered Herbalist
Herbal North