[Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"

[betdav97 at aol.com]

Hi Tim,

? If a site is no longer being dug up, as in a quarry, sure there may be more

in the surrounding rock, but unless you blast it open, which is illegal, the
site has effectively been swept clean. If you should ever come to WV, I
can show you several sites, where there used to be material, but you can't 
find a trace of it now. Most sites in WV produce very little anyway, so it
doesn't take much to take it all and leave nothing. In this state, there is a
lot of distrust between professionals and collectors. I just had a good lesson 
taught to me by a collector from New York, who misrepresented himself to
gain knowledge. I have a very bad taste left from him an will be along time
before I get over it. Oh well, to each his own.
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Fisher <nospam at orerockon.com>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:37 am
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"



Not always. The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta actually encourages fossil collectors to dig in some of their active research sites. They just don't publish the localities until they author a research paper. If it weren't for amateur collectors, many of the Cretaceous fossil sites on Vancouver Island (where I collected at an active RTM site) would be far less well understood. They even have Vancouver Island Paleo. Soc. members collecting, then making and staining thin sections from concretions to show the plant materials in them. The North Dakota School of Mines asks for help in collecting one of their research sites in Oregon every year. You just have to express genuine interest and you will sometimes be welcomed; in fact usually you can keep what you couldn't otherwise keep (not getting specific here because I don't know the BLM's take on that LOL) if it isn't important to their research. OTOH, if you sneak in and get caught, you can get arrested like these "collectors":?
?
http://tinyurl.com/2lmfyx?
?
And Dave, I challenge you to clearly demonstrate that people can collect a site until absolutely nothing is left. The only sites I know of that are truly gone are those that were constructed over/shot closed/intentionally buried. Others have been lost to floods and landslides, but I can't verify that any site that had worthwhile material to collect was truly and forever denuded of all material by rockhounds.?
?
At 08:05 AM 12/21/2007, you wrote:?
?
?
>? After reading all the posts thus far, what hasn't been mentioned is:?
>some sites are sensitive areas that are still under research by the Geo?
>Survey or an university. Those are kept secret until the research is done.?
>Also, there is always the fear that someone will take everything available?
>and leave none for the next collector. There are sites here in WV like that.?
>Dave?
?
Tim Fisher?
Ore-ROCK-On!?
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com ?
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