A Bryson City man will serve five months and 15 days in jail for illegally harvesting 83 American ginseng roots from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It’s the fourth time Billy Joe Hurley, 46, has been caught poaching ginseng, and not the first time he’ll serve jail time for it either.

“Our rangers remain committed to protecting ginseng which was recently placed on the North Carolina watch list for plants in peril due to exploitation,” said Acting Chief Ranger Steve Kloster. “We are hopeful that this conviction will serve as a deterrent to others considering illegally taking this special resource.”

Each year law enforcement rangers seize between 500 and 1,000 illegally poached ginseng roots, a threat the plant cannot withstand indefinitely and could eventually lead to its disappearance, according to a National Park Service botanist who testified at Hurley’s sentencing hearing.

However, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also testified that financial gain is likely to continue to drive poachers since fresh ginseng can bring up to $200 per pound on the black market. It is highly prized as a tonic, especially in Asian markets.

Hurley was most recently caught poaching ginseng in the park in June of this year. He was caught in 2010 and 2011 as well, serving a few months in jail for those offenses as well.

“I am proud of the rangers who work to protect ginseng from poachers,” said Smokies Acting Superintendent Cindy MacLeod. “Ginseng is a precious resource, a difficult plant to grow, and one that we have been using losing to illegal and unsustainable harvests as the forests are being robbed of younger and younger plants.”