Researcher’s journey turns to forests’ understory

Beneath the Central Appalachian Forest canopy lies a rich, biodiverse world of native plants helping to fill North America's medicinal herb cabinet.  

Yet, the benefits and beauty of this rich ecosystem are often overshadowed by a lingering cloud of coal.  

“This region is often referred to as the coalfields, but I've found through my research that people living in these communities usually talk about their attachment to the region in relation to their deep love for the mountains and forests, not coal,” said Shannon Bell, professor in the Department of Sociology. “Many different Appalachian people, stretching from pre-colonization to today, have tended, harvested, sold, and used a vast number of forest botanicals like American ginseng, ramps, black cohosh, and goldenseal. These plants have long been integral to many Appalachians’ livelihoods and traditions.” 

For years, Bell’s research has centered on environmental injustices in fossil fuel extraction communities, particularly the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining in these areas. She has written two award-winning books about this research: "Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed: Appalachian Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice" and "Fighting King Coal: The Challenges to Micromobilization in Central Appalachia." 

But since the COVID-19 pandemic and with support from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment, her focus has expanded to investigating inequities in the wild-harvested herbal supply chain and working with local communities to protect and increase populations of at-risk forest botanicals. This has led to multiple grants and projects related to Central Appalachia and its residents, including working with the Appalachian Regional Commission and the creation of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument in Wise County, Virginia, which was celebrated on Aug. 18.  

“The importance of medicinal plants and forest foods to many Appalachian families’ traditions and strategies for making ends meet has been a thread running through many of the interviews I’ve conducted over the past 20 years, but this was something I had never explored in depth,” Bell said.   

Fifty percent of the medicinal herbs, roots, and barks in the North American herbal supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains, and the bulk of these species are harvested or grown in Central Appalachia, which includes southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, far-Southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. The United Plant Savers, a nonprofit with a focus on native medicinal plants and their habitats, has identified many of the most popular forest medicinals as species of concern due to their declining populations. 

“Finding ways to expand these populations through protecting forest habitat and by promoting sustainable economic opportunities, like forest farming, is important for the well-being of the human and more than human communities in Central Appalachia,” Bell said.  

Bell’s shift in research focus began while being quarantined at home with a 4-year-old and 8-year-old during the spring of 2020. She began reflecting on her interviewees’ stories of ginseng digging, berry picking, and pawpaw gathering.  

“My family and I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house during quarantine,” Bell said. “We observed the emergence of all the spring ephemerals in the forest understory – hepatica, spring beauty, bloodroot, trillium, mayapple. My son and I documented mayapples in all their different stages, from first emergence to fruiting. I came to appreciate the importance of the region’s botanical biodiversity more than ever, and realized I wanted to incorporate this new part of my life into my research.”  

Through support from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment's COVID-19 Reset Program  — now known as PREP — Bell expanded her research focus to native herbs seamlessly.   

“Although not funded, the proposal I was working on during the COVID Reset program allowed me to be ready to apply for several other grant opportunities,” Bell said. 

During the program, Bell applied for and received an Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, which funds community-based research projects undertaken with students at colleges and universities in the region. During fall 2022, Bell taught a community research class in the Appalachian studies program and led her students on an investigation of inequities in the wild-harvested herbal supply chain. They found that there is a large discrepancy between the pay that wild harvesters receive for the medicinal plant material they collect from the forests and what these processed roots, herbs, and barks sell for on the shelves of natural food stores and pharmacies.

“We discovered that one of the core problems is that most of the processing of herbal plant material happens far away from Central Appalachia, so most of the profits are leaving the region,” Bell said. 

The interviews and participant observation data that Bell and her students collected during the class set the stage for her to apply for ISCE’s signature Scholars Program in 2023.

With co-investigator John Munsell, professor and forest management Extension specialist in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, Bell’s scholars project sought to identify ways that Central Appalachian communities could retain more of the profits from the herbal industry while simultaneously ensuring that populations of at-risk forest botanicals not only survive, but thrive and expand in the region.

Bell conducted participant observation and interviews with wild harvesters and is currently working on a mail survey with local herb buyers. She also piloted a ginseng seed distribution program with wild harvesters and helped a wild harvester write a grant proposal to start a forest farm.  

“I am particularly interested in helping wild harvesters acquire the resources they need to begin cultivating forest botanicals themselves,” Bell said. “Economic development in post-coal communities often focuses on other types of energy development, like fracking and natural gas pipelines, or on building prisons and landfills. Central Appalachia is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. I think that placing a greater value on this biodiversity is key to promoting a more sustainable future for the region.”  

Bell is currently engaged in multiple projects with university and community partners to benefit people throughout Central Appalachia.  

One of these projects is a $490,647 Appalachian Regional Commission Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) planning grant, led by Professor John Munsell. Partners from across Central Appalachia are currently in the midst of a year-long planning process that will ultimately lead to a multimillion dollar ARISE implementation grant proposal focused on strengthening forest farming initiatives in Central Appalachia.  

Bell is also working to draw attention to the value of Central Appalachia’s biodiversity by leading the creation of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument in Wise County.  

With funding from Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia, Bell is collaborating with partners at the nonprofit organization Appalachian Sustainable Development, Virginia Tech, the City of Norton, a sculpture artist team, and forest botanicals practitioners to create a monument celebrating the cultural, historical, ecological, and economic significance of Central Appalachia’s abundance of medicinal herbs and forest foods.  

Bell said one of the monument's purposes is to challenge narratives about what is valued in the region. “Referring to Central Appalachia as the coalfields overlook the wealth of biodiversity above the coal,” Bell said. “The Central Appalachian forests are a treasure that should be protected and celebrated.” 

Many academic and public-facing publications and exhibits are planned as part of these projects, including a book project. Bell also hopes to continue collaborating with Appalachian Sustainable Development and other community partners to create new opportunities for people to deepen their connections to the Appalachian forest understory.  

“Shannon has a contagious enthusiasm for both the forest botanicals of Appalachia and people who work with them,” said Robin Suggs, procurement manager at Appalachia Sustainable Development. “She has keen insight into the struggles of formerly coal-dependent communities and how the sustainable production of forest botanicals can positively affect those communities.”   

The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument will include a Storywalk Trail of 10 interpretive signs placed along a wooded trail at Flag Rock Recreation Area, a sculpture, and an online exhibit. An opening celebration for the storywalk trail component of the monument was held on Aug. 18, with the sculpture installation planned for spring 2025.