Poaching vs. “Legal” Wild Collection and How to Spot Habitat-Dug Agave utahensis

A. utahensis plants in habitat are subject to several threats, including aridification, climate change, land development, poaching, and unsustainable wild collection. Collection and poaching not only threaten Agave utahensis population sizes, but also the domestic and international markets have placed soaring prices on desirable characteristics found in A. utahensis subsp. eborispina and A. utahensis subsp. nevadensis, endangering their genetic diversity. It is important to distinguish the crime of poaching from legal wild collection, while recognizing that most legal wild collection is ethically indistinguishable from poaching: they both exploit slow-growing wild populations for short-term profits. The absence of local and international legal protections and regulations for A. utahensis have caused a lack of transparency consumers who wish to purchase ethically and sustainably sourced plants need. But there are potential remedies available. Currently, the only option consumers have to ensure they're not contributing to the destruction of the species is to purchase only seed-grown A. utahensis plants. There are four visual characteristics—root structure, growth pattern, leaf coloration, and age estimation and one contextual red flag—the common misidentification of A. utahensis subsp. nevadensis as the more coveted A. utahensis subsp. eborispina—that can be used to identify wild-collected or poached individuals, versus seed-grown examples.