The BLM adopted the UNESCO rules designed to protect cultural properties
and
turned them into laws. These rules have been twisted into law by
government
servants overstepping their authority with no debate or intelligent input
whatsoever. I talked at great length over 10 years ago with the late
Richard Norton which sounded the alarm bells to anybody who would listen.
The BLM strengthened their position with the 10 pound limit and
commercial
permits which will never be issued based on television shows, falsely
perceiving that meteorites are lying around like Easter Eggs and are
worth a
fortune.
Not too many people have the resources to fight the federal government.
Just
talk to the miners that lost the Old Woman meteorite. Our group,
consisting of seven people, were warned by BLM agents from the Needles
California office that meteorites are not to be resold and that they
monitor
eBay and other outlets. Four prominent meteorite collector/dealers and a
scientist were on this trip. I was personally threatened, as were other
team members, by them and will leave it at that. Others on this list
have
been warned as well. I will leave it up to other hunters to step forward
with their unsavory experiences with the BLM if they feel so inclined.
It is best to search on private property with written permission if want
to
resell your finds. There has been a lot of press about artifact hunters
having their entire collections confiscated if they did not have
provenance
indicating their finds were made on private land. Even then, you are not
allowed to dig on private property for them. They have to be surface
finds.
Remember, the "laws" written for artifacts and fossils now apply to
meteorites even though meteorites were never mentioned in the UNESCO
guidelines which were adopted into law.
Jim, I am surprised that with all of the hunting you have engaged in over
the years that you have not been personally involved with the BLM in the
field. Sometimes you run into a reasonable agent, but more than likely,
you
will run into one looking exert their authority.
Adam
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Wooddell via Meteorite-list"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 5:06 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Prices for SouthWest Dry Lake Finds???
Hi Adam and all,
Just for clarification on so called BLM Rules.
The BLM put out a paper a while back the stirred up a ruckus. The paper
was a GUIDELINE for area supervisors
to implement or not. To be clear, they are not rules. And, the BLM has
failed to issues claimed permits for
commercial ventures when ask.
If you can show me where these guidelines have become rules and have
actually been implemented, I'd like to see it.
Jim
On 5/20/2014 4:25 PM, Raremeteorites via Meteorite-list wrote:
Hi Jim and All,
Unless they predate 1972, meteorites found on public land cannot be
used
for commercial purposes according to the BLM interpretations rendering
them
without commercial value. This is even before the new "laws" limited
meteorite recoveries to 10 pounds a year or less without a commercial
permit. The interesting thing is not a single commercial permit has
ever
been issued despite being applied for.
Sorry for the bad news,
That is why it so important to treat private land owners with the
utmost
respect in order to gain access to unrestricted search areas.
Adam
--
Jim Wooddell
[email protected]
http://pages.suddenlink.net/chondrule/
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