Immigrant harvest of salal in Washington state.

From NarratingLandscapes

In Washington State, immigrants from Southeast Asia and Latin America harvest salal as a non-timber forest product. Salal is used in floral arrangements. This is proving to be a successful industry, and for these people a reliable source of income. Depending on their experience, harvesters often possess knowledge about harvesting techniques, relationships between the forest understory and overstory, and the effects of logging on understory production. This knowledge could be used by forest managers. The harvest of salal is not yet regulated by the government, and in many areas, local people often raise access issues with outsiders who come to their forests to harvest and sell salal.

Bibliography

Ballard, Heidi and Lynn Huntsinger. 2006. Salal Harvester Local Ecological Knowledge, Harvest Practices and Understory Management on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Human Ecology 34: 529-547.

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