Huckleberries Bullied

Conservation

A new breed of destructive huckleberry pickers is emerging in the region’s forests. Some impatient berry pickers are stripping leaves as well as berries off huckleberry bushes. Sometimes, they’re even clipping the branches off the plants to glean the berries latter, according to a Clearwater National Forest press release.

Incorrect use of the rake-like commercially made berry pickers and rough hand-picking damages huckleberry bushes, forest officials say. This will affect future berry production.

Stripping berry bushes of leaves is silly no matter how you look at it. Spend a little more time in the woods to save on the work of skimming all those leaves out of the berry buckets.

, DataTimes