New York State Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Lieutenant Steven Bartoszewski reported that they responded to a report of illegal fishing on South Sandy Creek in the Town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County On April 26.
The complainant stated he observed three individuals carrying black garbage bags that were dripping with water to their vehicle, placing the bags in the trunk of the vehicle, and then returning to the creek.
ECO Jason Maxwell joined Lieutenant Bartoszewski for the investigation and located the vehicle nearby at a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) fishing access parking lot.
Using binoculars, the officers said they spotted three individuals further up the creek appearing to harvest something from the ground along its banks. The ECOs determined the individuals were harvesting fiddleheads from the Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), a vulnerable and protected plant in New York State.
The trio did not have permission to harvest the fiddleheads on private property as required, nor did they have a commercial harvesting permit.
Once back at the parking area, ECO Maxwell ticketed the subjects for unlawfully removing protected plants and using a fishing access site for an activity other than fishing since the trio parked at the fishing access to commit the unlawful acts.
A quick count of the harvested fiddleheads determined approximately 10,000 ferns were illegally harvested.
Fiddleheads, Delicious but Protected
Fiddleheads grow wild in wet areas of northeastern North America in spring and were widely consumed by Indigenous people and early European settlers, especially in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Quebec and New Brunwick, where they remain a traditional dish.
Most commercial harvesting of fiddleheads occurs in New Brunswick, Quebec and Maine, with North America’s largest grower, packer and distributor of fiddleheads located in Ontario.
Fiddleheads are sold fresh and frozen. Fresh fiddleheads are available in the market for only a few weeks in springtime, and are fairly expensive. Pickled and frozen fiddleheads can be found year-round.
The vegetable, which must be cooked to release toxins, is typically steamed, boiled and/or sautéed before being eaten hot, with hollandaise sauce, butter, lemon, vinegar and/or garlic; chilled in a salad; or with mayonnaise.
Collecting fiddleheads in New York is illegal on all State-owned lands, including state forests, wildlife management areas, and state parks and harvesting them on private property requires explicit permission.
Cutting fiddleheads for commercial sale without a permit is prohibited.
Also, most native fern species are legally protected as vulnerable native plants, making them illegal to pick anywhere.
Read more about New York State’s Ferns.
Illustrations from above: ECO Maxwell with the confiscated fiddleheads (provided by DEC); and a bucket of newly collected Canadian fiddleheads (courtesy New Brunswick Tourism).
BUSTED! I am a fan of wild plants that can be eaten, and will pick the emerging seeds of milkweed plants to boil and serve with a little salt and butter, delicous. Maybe these are illegal too? Anyway, people did their due diligence to turn in these poachers. Now I will have to look up the Ostrich fern to make sure I know what it is. I will put this up on our Twitchell Lake website for summer reading. Hah, busted!
Waste not want not!
Hope someone needy can eat them!
I agree. I missed fiddlehead season here in Maine. They are selling in the grocery store for $9 a pound.
We must know exactly who and where do you go to get explicit permission to harvest or pick what Fiddleheads are viable and available. At that location. How much is the permit? Is my question? Now I may need to find some Fiddleheads for myself and see what all fuss is about! Are they edibles and are they any good to have if you are a vegetable lover…We Love Green Beans!!!
They are delicious. I would like to know who the three are. The state don’t own a thing the people do
Protected so they will still exist a few years from now. That why there is a “Fiddle Season” and a certain number of permits.
.God bless all involved hope something Good can come out of this..
Jeff they are delicious and healthy!! My grandmother who was native Indian on my moms side ,got us hooked!
Fiddlestix on these town clowns with their fiddleheads! They’ve nothing better to do!?
All of these poachers whether it be fish or fern should be forced to replant replenish and pay a hefty price. Everything they’ve stolen will have a far and great impact upon our world. These things cannot just be replaced today tomorrow or even the next day. It will take time ,more than that what they have,which is why I believe the punishment should fit the crime. They are the equivalent of a plague and should be dealt with properly.
The head of the fern which is harvested will in feed grow back next year, IF they didn’t take the entire plant
When I find it hard to believe it’s illegal. When were kids growing up in Maine we pick fiddleheads all the time. You never had a problem of course we didn’t overdo it. And we did it to survive to eat and throw some and eat some that’s the way it was in northern Maine when I was a young fella it’s what he did went out and fix little heads cow slips and other different greens.
It was private property and 10,000 of them. Probably reselling them to stores or restaurants. I’d be pretty upset if that was my land.
Very different than kids eating a few! :)
I wouldn’t care if I wasn’t using them myself. People need to worry about themselves. If they asked me go ahead and harvest 5 million.
Snitches your absolutely right people should mind there own business if its growing wild its not endangered sounds like va to me apparently you cant pick a few wildflowers either
“if it’s growing wild it’s not endangered”
This statement tells us why the world is in the state it’s in
They were on private property and they picked 10,000.
Right. Harvest the area right out, destroy the ecology of the area, destroy
the balance of nature. Then there won’t be any more to worry about. The creatures who also replied on them will move to another area which will result in overpopulation of wildlife and lack of food. But, sure. Let them all take millions. That’s what humans do best.
Right and well said. Balance seems to go to the wayside when it comes to what humans want – no matter what the want. Greed. Gluttony. Coveting….. Karma will get Her balance, none-the-less, in the end.
So if you owned 100 acres of older growth forest, you’d be okay with some rando cutting them all down for their personal profit?
You find it hard to believe after reading an article about the behavior of a couple men that took many thousands at once out of greed? Well, I guess I’m not surprised.
How do you know if you get all the toxins out of them? I wouldn’t chance it.
People have been eating them for thousands of years.
Pretty much even if they’re cooked just barely, barely, barely enough to be considered “tender-crisp” if you will. Has always been accepted as enough to topple the toxins, and I’m 99.9% sure no one I know personally has succumbed to fiddlehead poisoning
You need to eat a stupid amount to really harm you..i can however make you ill if not at least blanched well
Harvesting fiddleheads sustainably for personal use can be accommodated almost everywhere with suitable gaurdrails and would be supported as a way to get the public to engage with the outdoors. Illegal commercial harvest such as what this article is likely highlighting is a threat since it often does emphasize sustainable methods. As someone who harvests fiddleheads even with several people harvesting 10,000 fiddleheads is a big job and processing for use is just as big a job too. It is unfortunate that New York ha s these blanket restrictions on publiclands. Foraging of all kinds is a legitimate outdoor pursuit that connects us to the land in ways that are as old as human life itself.
This.
I have them , I pick and cook them when I feel , I believe, DEC has better things to do with their time than bust a few people looking to pick them , yet if they are doing ot purposely for profit and they don’t own the land then that’s on them and the land owners , if it’s state land then surely the line is there. I can’t just cut down a bunch of trees on state land to sell . The whole story is never told by one article for sure but again there is groups of people that go around picking for seasonal medicine and meals that are not for profit but for pleasure. It is what it is but hey, guess the DEC will have an easier job when the state of NY fines everything to death and makes everything a toxic mega solar and battery dump in a few years so that their hidden bank rolls grow.
Yep , this is where we are .
Busted. Great poachers harvesting like that should be fined.
Waste not,want not. Hopefully someone eats them