I'm not really sure what the point is any more, and I wasn't out to make a point! For me it was a simple practical decision - I could have 'stolen' somebody's fungus, and chose not to (assuming that a growth on a tree on somebody's land belongs to that somebody - I'm not sure).
The bigger issue is different - if we find chagga (or any natural resource) and use it ourselves, but don't like the idea of others doing the same thing in order to sell it, isn't it just a matter of degree? I'm not sure how buying from overseas makes it better, except that it's more plentiful - which isn't the same as 'more sustainable' - some of the stores on alibaba.com have a minimum order quantity of 25kg, which would require an enormous amount of birch to sustain it. For all I know people could be destroying birch trees in huge numbers to reach the little bits they want for tea and tinder.
Really I have no idea if 'overexploitation' of chagga by us bushcrafters will put it on the 'endangered list', but I suspect the argument isn't simply a UK one.
On a personal level I can't abide the idea of any natural resource being overexploited - British or otherwise.
Rant over. Sorry
I feel that I may be singing from the same hymn sheet as Cave Dweller, and given enough time I would have elaborated to make the same points myself. There are many honourable Bushcrafter out there, like Cave Dweller, who would perhaps like to play with Chaga, but are not willing to damage a tree to do so; on the other hand there are some people out there who want what they want, and dont care who, or what gets damaged on the way to getting it. By offering to both, and by buying from those that do care, it seems to me that everyone should be happy
except the ones who harvest for themselves and condemn anyone else who would like it! Hypocrisy is another form of corruption, both are dishonest!
How many Bushcrafters out there want to play with Chaga as a fire lighting aid? Not many, Ill bet, but there are some who do (hence my request for about 4 to 5 kilos per year). So by catering to all, it may give pause to the impulse forager who may feel a sense panicked need to take whatever they might find, just in case they might not be able to find it again. With that point in mind, I would have thought that by the controlled selling of Chaga, you are saving what might have been destroyed?
It seems to me that harvesting anything from locals where it naturally grows, is better than harvesting it from areas where it is so incredibly rare for it to grow
like Wales (someone mentioned that they saw a Conk in Wales I couldnt find the person who said this, so I apologies to you). However, making a contact with a conscientious supplier is what Im about; buying Chaga from abroad may be more sustainable and even cheaper that from a UK supplier, but I cannot be sure that what I would be buying would be conscientiously harvested, I hate to say it, but rape is rape, no matter where its done. So burying your head in the ground, and saying that it is OK as long as it isnt in in my backyard is naivety at its extreme.
Making a full blown debate about it is great fun (to me at least), but each time someone says that something is rare, it creates a bigger demand for it than just letting it be. My experience of Humans is that we, as a species, covert what is rare and despise what is common (e.g. Cordyceps, Ivory, Whales, Big Cat Skins etc, etc, the list is endless).
On the other hand, Im not selling the stuff as if it were a multi-million pound industry like tobacco or petrol; I cant see that the demand, within the Bushcraft community, would exceed more that about 4 to 5 kilos per year (after all I sell the stuff in 10 gram lots, which I know will last your average Bushcrafter a long, long time); and it isnt as if the species was an endangered (if it was I simply would not sell, or for that matter use it). As for it being rare in the UK, there seems to be suggestions that it is not, but Ill accept alternative opinions on this one, since I dont live where Chaga grows, so I dont really know
perhaps those who feel that it is rare in the UK, live where it rare as well?!
