CompuServe Messages

John, Doug and others, Selling the publis land is not the answer. Sure mineral collectors could buy some, but probably not much. And I don't know where you have been getting all this good luck about getting access, but in magazines I read, and letters I get to the Mineral News, all I see is a steady stream of localities "lost" because some private land owner closed it. Often this is just because the land was recently sold and the new owner doesn't care if the previous owner had not problems, he just doesn't want others on his land. Talk to the unting groups about private land, closed lands are their biggest complaint. Sure, there are reasons (gates left open, signs, cows, etc. shot up,) but do you think their aren't similar problems with that certain small percentage of mineral collectors. I am not really against permits/fees of some sort. But it would be difficult. A typical trip for me consists of driving all day south into the main part of Idaho, then over tree days, collecting at three to five or six different obscure sites I've decided to prospect from a little hint in the geologic literature, and these are on three or four different National Forests and BLM lands. Some sort of fee for minerals removed is worth consideration, but a lot of what I take home has nor monetary value, it is scientific (I look for those little things not known or reported from a locality, as well as look for a decent specimen), so is it really worth paying for? I will have to think about if I want to pay $2 a pound for ugly matrix pieces & "pocket" debris that *may* have some tiny crystals, or most likely will be tossed after a careful search under the scope. We need to teach the regulators that collecting minerals is not the same as picking berries or cutting trees or fishing–you generally don't know what you have until you get home, clean it up, and carefully look at it. No matter what is done, it won't be obeyed by those who cause the problems now. It will just cost us honest collectors. The commercial collectors who blast and mine without permits and approved plans of operations now will still do it the same. Lanny