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GeneralAmerican Rockhounds, the DOI is plotting against you

30th Apr 2010 00:55 UTCDean Allum Expert

As another example of lack of transparency in the current administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior is planning a massive expansion of National Monument status without polling the populace for it's opinion. As usual, they see your hobby as a destructive activity which should be banished.

I am not sure how long this link will be in order, but here is a list of top sites which will be closed to rock hunting:

http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/documents/doi_internal_document.pdf

30th Apr 2010 03:42 UTCDana Slaughter 🌟 Expert

Hi Dean,

Proposal of National Monuments is not partisan---the past few decades or so has seen a great number of proposed "land set-asides" by largely Republican governors/politicians in the Western US. I applaud some of these efforts and still others are misguided in my own view. Some areas are so seldom used by the public that it makes little sense (in many cases, but not all) to keep collectors, hunters, etc. at bay. These are largely the only people that use the land in some cases. Most of this has not been acted upon for one reason or another. Contrary to public opinion, in my own opinion, is that much of this stuff is brought before the public for hearings. I've heard time and time again about all these land grabs without public input only to dig a bit deeper and find that some of these cases were widely brought before the people.

You are correct in your worry that lands may become off-limits to recreational collecting. I would like to see some sanity brought to the table by both sides as it seems that areas could easily remain open to collecting while protecting public lands as a whole. The BLM Garnet Hill area in NV seems to be a good working model. I don't have any particular knowledge of problems or tension at Garnet Hill but have several friends that have collected there and have lauded the cooperation shown by the BLM. It seems that we could use a similar model for proposed National Monuments and National Parks, etc. if our officials (both elected and non-elected) could meet somewhere in the middle. There is craziness on both sides and we need reasonable people to come to reasonable solutions---pretty pie-in-the-sky, eh!!?

I remember watching grizzlies at Yellowstone several years back as they were hunting marmots. Many of us walked into an open field to get a better view and the ground was littered with beautiful blue agate. I'd hate to see regular carloads of collectors heading into such sensitive areas to collect! Still, it seems that perhaps there are places where a limited number of collecting passes could be issued on a daily/weekly/monthly basis so that sensitive areas (and there are sensitive areas!) are not overused. Just my opinion of course, but I just wanted to note that there is a long history of such proposals on both sides of the political spectrum---some of it with considerable public inclusion and some with frightfully little.

Best regards,

Dana

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