Demand is greater than cultivated supply. Currently most product supply is from the wild. Digging of the Plant Reports of digging have come from at least 14 North Dakota counties. Digging has been most common in northwestern North Dakota. In the Williston area, the county sheriff logged dozens of reports of illegal digging.
Wild harvest removes most or all of the plant s root.
The current large scale digging and removal of Echinacea is not sustainable and may cause this now common plant to become rare in the future. Digging creates unnatural disturbance in native prairie and results in numerous holes increasing erosion and the spread of noxious weeds. N.D. Parks and Recreation Department, State Land Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Park Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A misdemeanor if a person removes, or is in possession of purple coneflower removed from land of another person, or from state-owned lands, without consent. This problem is being felt in surrounding states.