Why so darn greedy?

[snagfinder]

I know of a huge patch of leeks on public land. My neighbor who is 75 wanted to pick some so i thought i will take him. This patch is 200 x 100 yds been getting some for years im sure others have as well. Went today to check for tomorrows trip looks like some fum ducker took an excavator in there. Im talking thousands were there now he will have to work for a couple dozen. Why so dam greedy. I know he can sell then on facebook.

[leechlake]

common courtesy out the window.  That sucks.

[RebelSS]

Seems to be going around in various forms.

[snagfinder]

Sorry for the spelling i was mad and maybe had a beer or 12.

[delcecchi]

Been like that forever.  Used to be lots of Buffalo in the west, and big pine trees all over east central and northeastern mn.  Now there are neither. 

Edited April 24, 2016 by delcecchi

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, snagfinder said:

I know of a huge patch of leeks on public land. My neighbor who is 75 wanted to pick some so i thought i will take him. This patch is 200 x 100 yds been getting some for years im sure others have as well. Went today to check for tomorrows trip looks like some fum ducker took an excavator in there. Im talking thousands were there now he will have to work for a couple dozen. Why so dam greedy. I know he can sell then on facebook.

It may have been a group with large families to feed looking at your local. 

[Stick in Mud]

I've had two of "my" spots of fiddleheads be completely destroyed by overharvest.  I was out two days ago with my wife on a hike and saw two people with implements harvesting a little patch of ramps I've been sustainably harvesting for years now....went back after they were gone and they had dug them all up with shovels.  For what it's worth (not much), those spots of "mine" had produced fiddles and ramps for years...now they're all dead.

I've seen people girdle elm trees to kill them so morels might show up in future years. In a public park. 

 

[roony]

Sad, When I harvest leeks I go all over the woods and take a couple here and a couple there so I don't wreck the patches. 

[roony]

It's a private woods I go to so that helps too.

 

[JP Z]

I have one spot and last year I would pull one or 2 from a group of 10 so in the end I would end up a with a few dozen or so.  This year I went and just would cut the leaves at the stem so hopefully then continue to grow......and maybe others won't know what they were missing

[Neighbor_guy]

I think a lot of the mass harvest is people who are selling on the various sites or farmers markets. At $25/lb people can go overboard quickly. 

I'm in the rule of 1/3. Never take more than a third of any bunch. They are perennials, but if you pull all of them they will not be back next season. 

I also frown on selling. Collect enough for your needs, a meal or two. But don't destroy everything in the name of a few dollars. I'm also very reluctant to let people know what I'm doing when foraging on public lands. 

[pikestabber]

I also like the harvest rule of a 1/3 unless it's something like mushrooms or wild rice in which case taking it all or taking none of it yields the same result in terms of sustainability. I am fortunate enough to have a huge patch of fiddleheads 3 steps off my lawn, but a new power line dug in last fall meant equipment trampling down the whole patch.   I'll find out in a couple weeks what the true damage was.

[teal50]

With ramps, one can take one leaf and leave the bulb in the ground & other leaf to insure they will be there in the future.