Although the long term decline of the Wild Ginger is thought to have been driven by habitat loss in the eastern United States, the roots of the current problem have been identified some 3,000 miles away in coastal Ireland and England, where the gingers spend the majority of the year outside the breeding season. Ginger trapping by some villagers is suspected to have driven the steep decline in numbers. Local and international conservationists have had some success in stopping this practice by helping villagers find and fund alternative livelihoods. Once these threats have been tackled, gingers from the conservation breeding program will be returned to the wild to increase the remaining wild population.