Right to collect

[Ron at]

I said:
> Perhaps the next time I am hunting larvae on public lands and I am
stopped
> for "collecting" I should just...


Just thought I'd mention that the above is an argumentative example, I have
never been stopped for collecting on public lands.  National Forests are
open to insect collection unless there are specific restrictions.  All
collecting I have done in other areas of public lands I was being paid to
do by either the US dept. of Agriculture (Forest Service) or dept. of
Interior (Fish and Wildlife) in conjunction with status surveys and
endangered species research .

I was "arrested" once for trespassing on private property.  It was deer
season and the unmarked land was rented by a hunt club.  My friend and I
had blocked the entry road (path actually).  When we got to court a few
days later we found out that the head of the hunt club was also the local
lieutenant of police... We were going to fight it as there were absolutely
no, no trespassing, signs within a mile of the area.  Seeing the red neck
(southern slur for country bumpkin) police officer and his local magistrate
buddy - we just paid the $25 and went on our way.

Speaking of money and paratoxonomists...  I have no entomological PhD, I am
however an expert on butterflies in several ways.  I have been contracted
either personally or through our organization (The International
Lepidoptera Survey - TILS) several times over the years.  I (we) charge and
get PhD rates ... $400 to $600 a day.  The first taxonomic paper I wrote
(describing a new subspecies - Satyrodes appalachia leeuwi, 1974) my
_junior_ author was a working entomological PhD with the USDA.  28 years
later, I sometimes forget what all I have described and what some of their
names are.  Sooooo, I have published more descriptive taxonomic papers than
most ever will and been paid what many only wish they could get paid - with
or without a PhD.  I think the term parataxonomist stinks.

Ron Gatrelle
TILS president
Charleston, SC - USA
http://www.tils-ttr.org

PS  Well, I am out a here.  Off to the field now that the rains have stoped
from hurricane issadore.  It will take 1 1/2 hours to get to where I want
to go so will be late in the afternoon, but I can get in two or three hours
of collecting/ surveying in before dusk.  I am checking on *Hesperia
attalus nigrescens* (I discovered and described). It's a very rare coastal
semi-dunes habitat critter known from only this one disjunct location.  A
real relict.  Photos and abstract at our web site.  Status at the
NatureServe web site.   Oh, it occurs on private property - which if ever
listed as endangered will really tick some people off. I have not found it
on a nearby wildlife refuge but it should be there.   All the years on this
have been out of my own pocket (funds).  This is the norm for we
"parataxonomists" we pay our own way...