I just drove to the BLM office in Las Cruces New Mexico and ask them for the laws concerning meteorites. Not one person had any idea about it much less any new regulations recently inacted. The boss there stated that he thought it was legal but a sample of your meteorite had to be submitted to the Smithsonian. It is my understanding that any changes to the BLM regulations would have to go through the same process as enacting a new law so it seems impossible that an area director could just make a new addendum to the existing regulations. But again this is southern New Mexico and we are already under Marshall law with all the Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, ICE, DEA,FBI, Customs, and some kind of Federal Police ( Who Drive around in black Subaerans, and heilocopters) usually no where near the border, ( they leave that to the Texas and New Mexico State police and County Sheriff Departments. Saludos Doug
----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: Doug Achim <[email protected]> Cc: Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 7:50 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] BLM Doug, Thank you for this info. Like Shawn said. Meteorites are just rocks. How does casual rock collecting fit in those laws? Carl meteoritemax -- Cheers ---- Doug Achim <[email protected]> wrote: > I live in Southern New Mexico. I ran about 100 sections, part of a larger > ranch for a little over 5 years( 1999 to 2004) The part I ran was almost all > classified as Wilderness Study Area (WSA). Look up the rules for WSA. The > only time there was anyone in the area that was not there to visit me was > hunting season. The hunters drove all over off road , left their camps a mess > when they left, generally trashed the place. I begged the BLM to come bust > somebody so I could spread the word and maybe get everyone to follow the > rules. Never once did a BLM person show up during the 5 years, except some > old volutiers and all they did was drive around and sometimes pick up some > trash. In 2004 there was one BLM Agent ( The ones who carry guns) to cover > all of southern New Mexico. Border Patrol was a different matter. There were > more Border Patrol on the ranch daily than illegals passed through yearly. > They mostly were hunting arrowheads, shooting rabbits, or > picnicking. I collect arrowheads. I have all the laws concerning artifacts >in the binder made up for my files. ARPA laws state in is not against the law >to pick up arrowheads on the surface. ( ARPA was passed in 1979, Jimmy Crater >was the president and he was an arrowhead collector). He refused to sign ARPA >stating that he did not some Boy Scout arrested for picking an arrowhead up. >So it was changed to exclude arrowhead hunting, only arrowheads nothing >else, and that is stated a couple places in the law. I had a friend in another >BLM area got harassed by a BLM person, so I decide to check in person. There >was not one person in the Las Cruces BLM office who could tell me anything >except that you could not do it. It took me weeks to find the Agent, and he >told me a lot of different things. The one that like was it was not against >the law to pick up an arrowhead if you were working, hiking or whatever else >on BLM land and found one. Where you were > breaking the law was if you went to the BLM land with the intent of looking >for arrowheads. I had the law with me so I pulled out a copy of ARPA and ask >him to show me where that was stated as I had read it numerous times and never >seen any thing written like that. He did not read anything just stated that I >was not a lawyer and probably to stupid to understand legal writing. I studied >Animal Science, Business, and Civil Engineering, so I am maybe not as smart as >a Federal employee, but I know how to read. Someone needs to have a lawyer >friend really read the new meteorite law, including all the fine print, >because the BLM people read the title and go from there, or they are trying to >run you off an area so they can go back and hunt themselves. Another story >about arrowheads and ARPA. I found a copy of the Forest Service laws on >artifacts. It stated that it was against the the to pick up chipped stone >projectiles ( arrowheads ). I contacted the > Forest Service and questioned it. They told me that ARPA was only a >guideline for federal agencies to use to make their own regulations. I said so >the Congress, Senate, and the President had studied, debated, and finally >passed the law so some GS2 employee of the Forest Service could change to to >what ever he wanted to. I have not seen the new laws but will track one down >soon and have a judge friend of mine write an opinion and sent it to the list. >Saludos Doug > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
