Imagine picking blueberries, blackberries, mushrooms and other foods for free — or nearly free.
Maryland Del. Lorig Charkoudian is proposing just that — although under HB 257, foragers would need to get a permit, just as anglers and hunters do. And the foraging would be allowed on specially designated lands managed by the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Charkoudian said food forests bring communities together and allow families who might otherwise go without food to supplement their diets. She cited several established community food forests in Maryland that allow people to take what they need, no questions asked.
At a House Environment and Transportation Committee meeting on Wednesday, Charkoudian said the altruistic model of the free food forests “works,” adding, “people don’t come and take too much, people don’t come and take more than they need.”
The bill is needed, she said, because under current laws, foraging is banned on lands managed by the DNR.
Charkoudian envisions a requiring foragers to apply for a permit that would have “seasons and restrictions on what you can and can’t harvest and education that goes with it.”
Dylan Behler, the legislative director at the Department of Natural Resources, told the panel that DNR supports the bill.
“We view this as an opportunity to talk about culturally important foods to the state, all while having important conversations about our indigenous communities,” Behler said.
He added that the permits would allow people to forage for naturally-occurring foods, including “paw-paws to chestnuts to everything in between.”
Tierney Acosta, the president of the Permaculture Club at Montgomery College, explained as much as 40% of the student body “is experiencing food insecurity” and that students transformed a section of the college’s Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus into a community food forest.
Acosta said it was the first time some of the students were introduced to foods like American persimmons and native grapes.
“This community food forest aims to bring localized and nutritious food straight to our students, faculty, staff and surrounding communities, completely free of charge,” she said.
Lincoln Smith, the founder of Forested — an organization working to promote forest agriculture — said he supported the bill.
Smith said if permits were to be issued, “I request that it be as streamlined and simple, simple as possible, because permits can be a hassle, and I do recommend creating food forests on public lands throughout Maryland where people can learn and forage and connect with Maryland forests in a new and meaningful way.”
The bill would require the DNR to administer “The Food Forests and Foraging Fund,” supported with money from permit application fees and money appropriated in the state budget.
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