#Collecting laws
Hi, folks–
The California Desert Protection Act (S-21) has passed the Senate and been
sent to the House of Representatives. Past versions had been approved by the
House and died in the Senate, so this time they may mean it.
This bill creates a 1.5 million acre Mojave National Park, and adds another 1.5
million acres to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Monuments, while
redesignating these as national parks. About 4 million acres of these parks
and another 4 million acres will be designated as wildernesses; the Cady Mts.,
Palo Verde Mts., Mt. Thule, and the Rodman Mts. are among the collecting
regions that will become unavailable to rockhounds.
That part of CA which will be closed to rockhounds if this law passes will be
larger than 9 states of the U.S.; USFS regulations pending may effectively
close a great deal more land to collecting, in many states including CA.
The Baucus bill (Vertebrate Paleontological Resources Protection Act) is about
to be or has been reintroduced in the Senate. I have received a copy, which I
am busily polishing up after scanning and OCR, and plan to upload after I have
finished. It does not appear at first glance to be as much a threat to
collectors as I had thought, though I may be missing something. There may be
potential problems other than for collectors here, but discussion of them
belongs elsewhere. There is a part that says "Nothing in this Act is intended
to- … (2) apply to, or require a permit for, the collection for private
purposes of a rock, mineral, or invertebrate or plant fossil that is not
protected under this Act" which worries me a bit. Does anyone know what
"private purposes" means to courts? That we cannot sell any specimens found on
public lands?
–Doug