Can Kids Collect?

[Richard Hill]

The Western Section of the Wildlife Society will have a one-day session on
permits this February 22, 2001, in Sacramento, California.


----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Bunch <pbunch at CTS.COM>
To: <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 5:28 PM
Subject: Re: Can Kids Collect?


> 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
> >