[Rockhounds] Accommodations, petrified forest

[Alan Silverstein]

(Catching up on my email backlog...)

> At the meeting he showed the rock, still in it's plastic bag, sealed
> with a piece of official government red tape.

Seems weird, but I've done this myself -- entered Petrified Forest NP
with petrified wood already collected elsewhere -- and it's a sane
policy, really.  You declare your goodies on the way in, they seal them
in bags, and then you shouldn't run into any trouble on the way out.

I've done a lot of map study and sleuthing in the area outside the park.
The BLM sections are scattered and mostly hard to reach, and the locals
are fed up with people trying to collect on their property.  Compared,
say, with Wyoming, looking up a landowner and politely requesting
permission to collect on their private property, gets a resounding NO.

Also I learned that AZ "state sections" set aside for school support are
very much off-limits.  No way to get a permit for casual surface
collecting.  What a pity.

Of course you/I could buy all the AZ pet wood we wanted in places like
Holbrook, but it's not about the having, it's about the fun of
collecting...

I have found a few places where scraps of nice wood can be found, and
apparently legally too.  It does occur over a very wide area -- many
miles -- but can be "occasional".

Cheers,
Alan Silverstein