Black Cohosh - Non-Timber Forest Products

and Wisconsin. Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia are also significant
producers. 5
Because the species is not monitored throughout its range, there is no
accurate measure of actual harvest levels of black cohosh. At present, the
sum of our knowledge is based on inferences from cultivation data and
conservative estimates of harvest based on reports from the herbal industry
and Federal collection permits.
Herbal Industry Reports: American Herbal Products
Association Tonnage Surveys
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) conducted two
surveys to determine wild-harvest levels of several popular native plant
species (American Herbal Products Association 2000, 2003). Due to the
voluntary nature of the surveys and the unknown percentage of the total
market represented by the survey respondents, the information provided by
these surveys should be taken as a conservative estimate of actual harvest.
According to these tonnage surveys, almost 1,400,000 pounds (dry weight)
of black cohosh was harvested between 1997 and 2001, nearly 98 percent
wild-harvested (table 1). It should be noted that three of the five major bulk
traders in black cohosh (as identified in 2001) are not AHPA members. A
large herb dealer based in the Southern Appalachians sold 55,000 to 60,000
pounds (dry) in 1999 (NatureServe Explorer 2002), almost half of what
AHPA reported for the entire year.
Table 1—Harvest of black cohosh according to the American Herbal
Products Association (2003) tonnage survey
Harvest year Cultivated Wild Total Wild harvest
percent
1997 0 227,002 227,002 100
1998 35,430 725,984 761,414 95
1999 2,600 145,367 147,967 98
2000 149 117,843 117,992 99
2001 6,521 177,681 184,202 96
Total (pounds) 44,700 1,393,877 1,438,577
Average 97.6
5
Suggs, R. 2003. Market profile: black cohosh. 12 p. Unpublished document. On file with:
Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 1650 Ramble Road, Blacksburg, VA 24060.
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