Hi Ian and List,
Very interesting perspective on Australia. I believe our forefathers knew
that absolute private land ownership makes for loyal citizenship. People
are willing to protect their country when they have a real stake in it.
Land here in the U.S. is so overregulated that mainly corporations know how
to get around these laws with legal staffs and well-placed contributions to
politicians. The greed is so strong that they do not want any activity that
doesn't produce money occurring on their property or anybody else's for that
matter. Most of these corporate types see meteorite hunters as a liability,
not an asset, so you can expect to get no permission to search large tracks
of private land if they are hiding behind a corporate umbrella.
In my situation, by the time I win my case and destroy the ugly dam and
canal, the corporation will have made enough money from the water that they
can just shut down and open another company. Some people feel that land
should always be put to use and if you are not using your resources, they
will for you. What is wrong with simply enjoying the land for recreational
purposes? I had over 2,600 feet of beautiful creek front (not counting both
banks) that has now been reduced to less than 800 feet with an ugly 1,800
foot canal (scar) on my property. This is an obvious trespass but nobody
will be held accountable. It is no wonder that ranchers do not want people
on their property and trust no one. This is the new norm for Americans.
People need to respect each others private property.
I have another ranch in Pershing County, NV that has 1,320 feet of county
road front for access. An out-of-state rancher who is leasing BLM land (not
even a private land owner) decided he did not want wild horses that freely
roam about on our property grazing from his leased public land so he
completely blocked access to our property with an electric fence. We had to
scale this electric fence the last time we were out there since he did not
install a gate. My wife and I repurposed this ranch for camping, fossil,
mineral, meteorite and artifact hunting. We would have let this corporate
rancher from California graze his cattle for free on our land but he felt
some sense of entitlement so we no longer trust him. He is not a land-owner
so he doesn't care about others private property rights. Next time, I will
simply drive my truck through the electric fence and make a gate.
It is no wonder private land owners just want to be left alone.
Adam
----- Original Message -----
From: "ian macleod via Meteorite-list" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2015 1:58 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Subject: The Unlikely Struggle Of The Family Whose
Neighbor Is Area 51
Hi Mike and Adam,
great article and info mate's. I can say from an Australian point of view
that we have plenty of areas perfect for hunting but we have the problem
of land owners not wanting hunters roaming around due to public liability
issues. Some farmers/land owners are just simply difficult. We have
private and public lands that have semi or full protection laws inorder to
keep plants, animals and sacred sites protected. For example the Henbury
craters, the NT museum in their wisdom decided that they don't want people
hunting around there to find what little material remains. This has a
negative and positive result. Positive being visitors wont find
(hopefully) the craters and rims destroyed by more digging, the negative
being any masses that remain wont be found so quick. When I vitited the
site last year I found areas damaged by hunters. Also the ejecta array was
partially destroyed by the creation of the carpark/road. This damage was
mentioned in Svends and Don McColls Book on Henbury.
Private ownership and owners rights are an extremely important issue and
are the foundation for personal liberty and justice, so I can most
certainly see the concerns people have.
Isn't it funny that big business always manages to get away with what they
want also, guess $$$ talks
A balance and pragmatic approach needs to be found, in all reality if
Meteorites were on BLM land would removing them be a huge impact to the
local environment - offcourse not. Most would be surface or subsurface
finds making up little of the many km's playa.
I am planning on hunting in a national park soon, the local museum and two
scientist already know my intentions. Now if I find something it will be
submitted to the Museum (according to law, another issue) but finding a
meteorite on public land here is not an issue, its actually getting people
to submit these finds. I laugh when the museum says they have had only
three actual finds turned in to SAM and two were well known irons from
another territory. Obviously the people who know what they are looking for
don't turn them in.
So on a positive in the USA you can keep your find but they are saying
don't hunt on BLM land, this will just lead to people fudging find
locations and off setting strewn fields by 50km :) Leading to less
accurate scientific data. Is BLM land off limits to hunting and digging or
just human's travelling on in general?
NWA seems to be one of the last final frontiers for the commoner to obtain
a meteorite to own, so I say to everyone while the going is good buy what
you can from people with lunars and rare types.
I personally can see all western governments becoming more restrictive in
scientific items/ownership. It seems inevitable
Cheers from the soviet socialist republic of Australia
Ian
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