Can Kids Collect?

[Phil Bunch]

I would add a few comments. Some states, California for example, have
laws and regulations that affect collecting.

A web search for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) may turn
up some useful information.  I work with these people on nearly a
daily basis and you may be surprised at the pit falls.  There's a
potential $50,000 fine and one year in jail for collecting a species
listed as threatened or endangered by the Service. Critters have more
protection than plants.  Endangered plants on private lands
(non-federal) are not directly protected under the Endangered Species
Act of 1973 (as revised).  If there is Federal nexus (funding ?), they
may have a hook.

In addition, the Service enforces the CITES treaty. There's a big hook
in that one if you bring specimens across the border.  If you bring
specimens in from Mexico they may (will?) require you to have a
collecting permit from the Mexican government regardless of the status
of the plant.  I know this from personal experience.

I would be glad to communicate with the Service folks I work with and
see if they could provide some input.

Phil Bunch
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Rauch <anamaria at GRINNELL.BERKELEY.EDU>
To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
Date: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 1:20 PM
Subject: Can Kids Collect?


>[I think Dennis's comments about the state of collecting these days
>are of interested to Taxacomers; crossposted from nhcoll-l with
>permission of D. Paulson. I especially relate them to the
>opportunities that children have (don't have) to collect (and learn
>under their own steam) like we did once upon a time.... Peter Rauch]
>
>Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:54:02 -0800
>To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
>From: Dennis Paulson <dpaulson at ups.edu>
>Subject: [NHCOLL-L:885] Re: Know what we need?
>Cc: Shelton.Sally at NMNH.SI.EDU, AVECOL-L at listserv.lsu.edu
>
>>Say, if there's anyone out there willing to work on a book for the
>>"Dummies" series titled "U.S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" I'm
MORE
>>than interested in helping.
>>
>>I'm sort of kidding, but having just slogged through yet another
meeting
>>with researchers who act totally surprised at the idea that there
are
>>wildlife laws on the books and permits that are needed in order to
comply
>>with said laws I'm desperate for ideas on how to educate the very
people
>>who most need to know about the laws in place and how to work with
the
>>system instead of against it.  I worry too about the students who
are being
>>trained by these folks - they aren't learning about permits and
laws,
>>either.  "U.S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" should be required
reading
>>for every natural history-related graduate student, if it existed.
>>
>>Sorry for the outburst, but it's frustrating.  Can I get a
hallelujah?
>>
>>Holly
>>
>>Holly McEntee, Registrar and Permits Coordinator
>>University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum
>>Lowell E. Noland Zoology Building
>>250 N. Mills Street
>>Madison, WI  53706-1794
> >
>>Phone/Fax:  608-262-3766/5395
>>hmcentee at facstaff.wisc.edu
>>http://www.wisc.edu/zoology/museum/museum.html
>
>Holly, hallelujah!  I agree with you entirely that everyone working
in the
>museum field should know the laws of their state and region and
country.
>Having said that, I must add that many researchers are familiar with
these
>laws, as I'm sure you're aware.  One of the big problems is that
there are
>too many of them.  As a long-time museum curator and collector, I've
been
>unendingly frustrated by laws and regulations that weren't always
clear (or
>were clear enough but quite irrationally restrictive).  I've been
similarly
>frustrated because I have to deal with state and federal permit laws
at the
>same time (for a bird permit), while understanding that there may be
>different regulations about collecting or salvaging specimens in
state
>parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, wildlife
recreation
>areas, research natural areas, etc., not to mention all the different
kinds
>of private lands.
>
>What I'd be a bit anxious about was having the November 2002 edition
of "U.
>S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" in January 2004 and having the
>sneaking feeling that major changes might have been made in 2003 in
one or
>more jurisdictions that I didn't know about.  So the obvious place
for your
>book is on a web site, with all parties contributing to it (but just
the
>thought of all the governmental agencies cooperating is enough to
make me
>fall on the floor with an attack of the giggles) and updating it
whenever
>appropriate.  All of us in this "business" could check it out, but it
would
>have to have a good search engine for "arthropods in national forests
in
>southern Arizona by an undergraduate volunteer at a university
museum" or
>similar levels of specificity.
>
>One of the things that has occurred to me over the years is that
there are
>more barriers against what many of us do for our livelihood and
passion
>than there are in most occupations.  Collecting (killing) animals is
looked
>on with distaste by an ever-larger proportion of at least Americans,
even
>though it is an occupation firmly planted in our genome, and I think
this
>moral viewpoint goes a long way to explain why permits have become
ever
>more difficult.  It's not because of endangered species problems, as
there
>are many strict regulations about the most abundant creatures.  I
suppose
>the fact that less and less of the landscape is available for
specimen
>collecting plays a part as well.  So as wild places disappear, it
becomes
>more imperative to sample their populations for permanent specimen
>preservation, and it becomes ever harder to do that.  And I'm talking
about
>collecting common insects, not spotted owls.
>
>And that's not even beginning to talk about the barriers in other
>countries, which make ours look inconsequential!  A book I might be
>inclined to write would be called "Dummies in Wildlife Permit Laws."
>
>As I do think your idea is a good one, I'm sending copies of this
post to
>two other lists concerned with permits.
>
>Dennis
>
>Dennis Paulson, Director                           phone 253-879-3798
>Slater Museum of Natural History                 fax 253-879-3352
>University of Puget Sound                       e-mail
dpaulson at ups.edu
>Tacoma, WA 98416
>http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html
>