Precious herbs vanishing fast

MANALI: Unscientific and excessive exploitation of precious Himalayan herbs has led to extinction of several plant species in the hills.
"Unlike few years back, it is very difficult to find any kind of herb. I think it is because we did not leave behind some roots and seeds for the species to live," said Kamla Negi, who belongs to Kinnaur but lives in Kullu to extract herbs in the rainy season."Gone are the days when we use to collect 10 to 40kg kadu (a herb) every day. Now I and my daughter hardly collect half to one kg every day." Kadu, nihani, van kakdi and gugal are the traditional herbs that people have been extracting for years. A
Roshan Lal, an elderly from Sainj, said, "Most people here are into herb collection business.
Agents visit homes and buy the dry herbs on cheap rates. People earned good money in the last few years, but
Finding medicinal plants is as hard as finding a snow leopard."
Though forest department have carried out frequent raids to check illegal collection of herbs from forest land, people continued to destroy roots of particular herb from a particular area without fear.
One of the most profitable herbs in recent years had been nag chhatri (trillium govanianum), which attracted thousands to go for its exploitation. Now, villagers say nag chhatri too has disappeared from the mountains.
"It's true that people are looking for other herbs as plants of nag chhatri have really vanished from the mountains. We were told to leave some herbal plants so that they could grow in the area. But people have uprooted every plant of nag chhatri. This shows how humans exploit all those resources which bring them easy money," said Rakesh Thakur, a resident of Goshal village, who is opposing herb collection practice for years.
TK Roy, an ecologist and conservator, who is studying Himalayas for many years, said many species have gone extinct from particular regions due to unscientific exploitation of herbs. "These herbs support local ecology system and also control soil erosion. People are uprooting herbal plants from an area and thousands of landslides on hills are a witness that soil is losing its grip," he said.