See... Part (2) that is exactly the point... and exactly the problem.
There's no clear policy at all with regard to meteorites, meteorite
hunting, and meteorite recovery. Different BLM offices will have
different policies based on the discretion of the person on shift at the
time. So if they guy or gal behind the counter has a bad morning,
forgets their coffee, or generally has a bad day, they dictate to you
whether you can hunt our not? Discretion? Whatever! OK so we are
supposed to hope someone is in the "mood" to issue permission? That's
laughable at best.
The policy part (1) is seriously flawed. There's no "law" which states
meteorites belong to the goverment, other than mineral law which can be
loosely applied to meteorites. Yet somehow they pick and choose which
laws to pply when and how they "feel" like it.
I guarantee you the BLM doesn't care about the average chondrite
meteorite. But if you find a North American Lunar, a Martian, a 6000
pound iron, or an ultra rare carbonaceous meteorite the BLM and
Smithsonian will probably jump up real quick and say it's theirs, and
will try to take it from you.
Other countries sciences have been damaged by restrictive regulations
where the government claims ownership of meteorites.
If we as Americans and as a country adopt the policy that meteorites are
off limits to the public, we are stifling the science we're trying to
protect.
Eric
On 11/5/2010 8:59 AM, Chris Peterson wrote:
It's more complicated than this. The guidelines we follow at the
Denver Museum of Nature and Science when hunting for meteorites are
like this:
1. All rocks, meteorites, artifacts, etc found on public land belong
to the government. There is no individual right to take anything, but
different land administration agencies can choose to allow collection,
usually with specific guidelines.
2. In the case of public lands, who you seek permission from depends
on the administering agency. Meteorites on BLM land are not
automatically claimed by the Smithsonian, but meteorites on National
Forest or National Park land are. If searching on BLM land (which is
Dept of the Interior) you can seek permission from the local BLM
office, which generally has a lot of discretion. When seeking on
National Forest or National Park land, you can again seek permission
from the local administrator (not from the Smithsonian), but they
usually have little discretion. The Museum can usually get permission;
private parties usually not. If you are searching on state lands, you
have to get permission from the state administrator, and they usually
have no policy at all, and everything will depend on who you talk to
and what kind of day they are having.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Dunklee"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 9:36 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Secret BLM maps battle of the Smithsonian
Might we talk to the currator of meteorites at the Smithsonian to
have them issue permits for the collection of meteorites on BLM land?
With the required 20 gram sample going to the smithsonian. They cant
tell you no you cant look for them if you are collecting them for the
Government. Might be able to use a similar ploy in Austrailia. The
smithsonian might even be able to make a few bucks charging $25 a
year for the permits to collect thier property. Since i think it is
in an act of congress that meteorites on federal land belong to the
smithsonian. It would be out of BLM hands to stop you with a
scientific collection permit from the smithsonian. Cheers Steve
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