Press Release Gifford Pinchot National Forest
For Immediate Release	CONTACT: Tom Knappenberger
May 21, 1997	PHONE: (360) 891-5005

Gifford Pinchot National Forest Drops Huckleberry Permit Requirement

Vancouver, WA--Picking small amounts of huckleberries on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest no longer will require a personal-use permit, Forest Supervisor Ted Stubblefield announced today. The change means that those picking fewer than 3 gallons of the popular purple berries each year do not need a permit, as do those picking mushrooms and other Forest special products.

"The personal-use permit for picking huckleberries no longer makes sense, "Stubblefield said. "We have learned what we could from this effort, but now that the permits have served their purpose, we decided to eliminate them. It's not every day we can drop a regulation, and I'm glad to do it, frankly."

Permits still are required for the commercial harvest of berries, mushrooms and other Forest products. Those picking 3 gallons or fewer of berries each year, however, will no longer need the free personal-use permit. The decision applies to strawberries, salmonberries, thimbleberries, blackberries and elderberries, although huckleberries remain the overwhelming favorite of summertime pickers.

The Forest began requiring the personal-use berry permit in 1993 to help assess the numbers of pickers and their hometowns. The number of permits dispensed ranged from 9,644 in 1993 to 17,538 in 1995, when the berry permit was combined with the mushroom picking permit. Picking totals were down last year, due to a poor huckleberry crop and Forest road damage.

Although picking berries without the free personal-use permit was illegal, no fines were issued.

Stubblefield said the Forest will continue providing information on the best locations and methods for picking. Enforcement of commercial picking permits, which cost $25, will continue.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Revised: May 22, 1997.