Moss is often described as the wallpaper for the forest; it serves as an intricately interwoven and unnoticed backdrop to more charismatic micro- and megaflora.  The term moss, however, does not refer to one single species, but rather a combination of multiple mosses- Dicranum scoparium and Plagiothecium denticulatum mingle with Isothecium myosuroides and Neckera douglasii over fallen logs and on tree branches.  The term “moss” is used for many species, because few mosses have ever been given common names.

ECOLOGY

          A true moss or bryophyte is one of the most primitive of land plants.  They lack flowers, fruits, seeds, and have no roots, vascular system, xylem, or phloem.  Reproduction occurs through spores, and the mosses discussed here are epiphytic, meaning that they derive their water and nutrients from the air and rain, and grow upon another plant as a means of support.  Due to their lack of internal cellular structure, mosses rarely grow taller than two inches tall.  Water is especially crucial to moss; in fact, moss has a water holding capacity up to twenty times its dry weight (Richardson 1981: 2).  Moss is distinct from other plants in that it is at the mercy of rainfall, since it lacks roots to derive water from the soil.  It is therefore most abundant in moist places, such as the spray zone of waterfalls and the wet, temperate forests of the Coast Range in the Pacific Northwest.

         Rotifers – freshwater aquatic microscopic invertebrates, and tardigrades- microscopic aquatic arthropods usually referred to as “water bears”, list in the moist interstitial tissues of moss, wild aphids, nematodes, cranefly larvae, snails, and other invertebrates either feed on or live among the moss (Richardson 1981: 107-12). In terms of vertebrates, mosses are woven into the nests of many species of birds, including the threatened marbled murrelet of the PNW, and work as nesting material for other small animals such as flying squirrels, voles, chipmunks, and even bears.  Bears make interesting use of the moss by embracing the indigestible quality of the filament of moss- just before entering their winter den for hibernation, bears will eat large quantities of moss, which binds up in their digestive system producing an anal plug and blocking defecation during their long winter sleep (Kimmerer 2003: 146).

ECONOMICS

         The harvesting of moss is a booming business that requires a substantial workforce.  It is estimated that harvesters gathered as much as seventeen million dried pounds of moss in 2003 (Tompkins 2004).  Generally, harvesters work part- to full-time hiking through the forests to mossy areas where thick pelt-like moss mats are peeled off trees and shrubs.  Bare hands are the most common harvesting tools when it comes to moss, but rakes or ladders are intermittently employed too.  After collection, the moss is packed fr esh into feed sacks and hauled to a staging area to air-dry to fifteen percent moisture content, informally designated as dry to the touch.  It is then sold to buying sheds set up near the forests either as loose material or compressed into twenty-five pound bales before being shipped to large national and international floral greens wholesalers, who sell the moss commercially to individuals or other floral green companies (e.g. florists, craft stores). 

     Moss harvesting has been an afterthought to the peak years of timber extraction in the PNW.  With the decline of the timber industry came a search for alternative income sources for many local and migratory workers, and nontimber forest products (NTFPs) filled that void in many ways.  Few private landowners allow NTFP harvesting on their lands, thus the majority of harvesting takes place on federal lands, primarily the national forests.

POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

          There are regulations surrounding the harvesting of moss, particularly in federally managed forests, although the rules are not uniform across all federal agencies that manage the forests.  For example, the U.S. Forest Service issues permits to harvest on their land at a cost of twenty-five dollars to harvest up to 500 pounds of moss or fifty dollars to gather up to 1,000 pounds (Madison 2005).  Some national forests such as the Siuslaw National Forest in northwestern Oregon, an area considered to be the largest single source for commercial moss in the PNW, set an annual limit on commercial moss harvest permits at 125,000 pounds per year and once this limit is met, permits are no longer sold for the remainder of the fiscal year (Peck 2006). This guideline has, however, produced an increase in the number of permits sold on adjacent Bureau of Land Management land.  The U.S. Forest Service sells permits and includes a map outlining the area where moss can be harvested, with the designated area changing annually.  Harvesters are also told that they cannot gather moss within 200 feet of a streambed or a developed recreation site, and the maximum amount that one family can harvest per year is 1,000 pounds, with each harvesting family member required to have an individual permit (Madison 2005).

     The complication of these regulations is that they are based on the honor system, with little or no formal coordination to regulate the permits and the gathering.  Thus problems of over-harvesting, illegal harvesting, territorial disputes, and on-site damage from illegal vehicles have been compounded by the scarcity of law enforcement per unit area (Peck 2006).

            There is currently a great deal of debate over the time it takes for moss to re-grow to pre-harvest levels since many botanists believe that wild moss is being harvested at unsustainable levels to supply the floral green industry (Banse 2006). Many scientists and harvesters believe that moss re-grows relatively quickly, in five to ten years, but Dr. Kimmerer’s study of an experimentally harvested area found a recovery rate of only one percent per year (Tompkins 2004).  It is imperative that more research be conducted on moss in general and in relations to its role as a commercial nontimber forest product.

*Compiled from a paper by Katie Fidler