You are mistaken about the law. EVERYTHING that sits on federal land belongs
to the federal government. There are no exceptions. Individuals have NO
right to take anything off federal land. It is entirely up to the discretion
of the managers of federal land to allow individuals the PRIVILEGE of
collecting something from federal land. Even where there are specific
exceptions in federal law, as for mining or limited mineral collecting,
enforcement is still up to the land management agencies.
I agree that the lack of any formal policy can make things difficult, but it
is important to remember that this is just that- policy.
Of course, it is all a matter of individual perspective. I fully agree that
the federal government should claim ownership of any meteorite found on
federal land that has a high scientific value. Of course, in practice, very
few meteorites found by collectors or hunters have much scientific value, so
there is no reason for the government to care if they are collected. All
that is needed is a simple permit system, but I doubt that will every
happen. This isn't exactly something that anybody in the relevant government
agencies puts much priority on.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meteorites USA" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Secret BLM maps battle of the Smithsonian
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
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