[Rockhounds] FW: FOSSIL HUNTING HOBBY IN DANGER Fw: PublicLandUsage Bills

[Rick Trapp]

It doesn't matter anyway. Every National Forest District Manager, and 
some NF's have several districts, has the authority to prohibit ANY 
activity they don't want to happen in their district. That includes 
rockhounding and fossil collecting.

In general, not pointing at any particular person, instead of wasting 
our time protesting perennial bills that never are going to pass, 
wouldn't it be a better use of our time to try to pass legislation that 
ensures our right to recreate on public lands in a particular fashion? I 
think we might have an decent chance of protecting recreational 
activities if we support strong regulation of for-profit activities.

This bill is intended to regulate for-profit activities. And every year, 
invariably, a bunch of recreational mineral and fossil enthusiasts get 
conned into preventing this bill from being considered. In general, 
these kinds of protests of these kinds of bills are encouraged and 
publicized by individuals who want to protect their "right" to extract 
minerals and fossils from OUR public lands FOR PROFIT without paying for 
the privilege of removing large quantities of minerals and fossils that 
belong to EVERYONE COLLECTIVELY. There are procedures in place that 
regulate how minerals and invertebrate fossils may be extracted for 
profit, but these individuals do not want to pay the fees. It's that simple.

Just sayin'.....




Gene Hartstein - Fossilnut.com wrote:
> Note it says "may", not 'should" or 'must".
>
> Gene Hartstein
> Newark, DE
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Brown" 
> <gbrown at catspaw-minerals.com>
> To: "'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors'" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 2:27 PM
> Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] FW: FOSSIL HUNTING HOBBY IN DANGER Fw: 
> PublicLandUsage Bills
>
>
>> Read the whole bill here:
>> http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-3213
>>
>> Here's clause 644:
>> (2) CASUAL COLLECTING EXCEPTION- The Secretary may allow casual 
>> collecting
>> without a permit on Federal land controlled or administered by the 
>> Bureau of
>> Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Forest Service, 
>> where
>> such collection is consistent with the laws governing the management of
>> those Federal land and this subtitle.
>>
>> It's not a total prohibition.
>>
>> BTW, it is BAD FORM to copy an email loaded with the email addresses of
>> other folks.
>>
>> GcB
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
>>> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of
>>> Lawrence Bull
>>> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 1:18 PM
>>> To: Andre Bourque; Rockhounds; Ron Hammeron
>>> Subject: [Rockhounds] FW: FOSSIL HUNTING HOBBY IN DANGER Fw:
>>> Public LandUsage Bills
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ....
>>
>> -- 
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>

-- 
Rick Trapp
Geologist/IT Manager, Arizona Geological Survey
rick.trapp at azgs.az.gov