[NHCOLL-L:885] Re: Know what we need?

[Dennis Paulson]

>Say, if there's anyone out there willing to work on a book for the
>"Dummies" series titled "U.S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" I'm MORE
>than interested in helping.
>
>I'm sort of kidding, but having just slogged through yet another meeting
>with researchers who act totally surprised at the idea that there are
>wildlife laws on the books and permits that are needed in order to comply
>with said laws I'm desperate for ideas on how to educate the very people
>who most need to know about the laws in place and how to work with the
>system instead of against it.  I worry too about the students who are being
>trained by these folks - they aren't learning about permits and laws,
>either.  "U.S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" should be required reading
>for every natural history-related graduate student, if it existed.
>
>Sorry for the outburst, but it's frustrating.  Can I get a hallelujah?
>
>Holly
>
>Holly McEntee, Registrar and Permits Coordinator
>University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum
>Lowell E. Noland Zoology Building
>250 N. Mills Street
>Madison, WI  53706-1794
 >
>Phone/Fax:  608-262-3766/5395
>hmcentee at facstaff.wisc.edu
>http://www.wisc.edu/zoology/museum/museum.html

Holly, hallelujah!  I agree with you entirely that everyone working in the
museum field should know the laws of their state and region and country.
Having said that, I must add that many researchers are familiar with these
laws, as I'm sure you're aware.  One of the big problems is that there are
too many of them.  As a long-time museum curator and collector, I've been
unendingly frustrated by laws and regulations that weren't always clear (or
were clear enough but quite irrationally restrictive).  I've been similarly
frustrated because I have to deal with state and federal permit laws at the
same time (for a bird permit), while understanding that there may be
different regulations about collecting or salvaging specimens in state
parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, wildlife recreation
areas, research natural areas, etc., not to mention all the different kinds
of private lands.

What I'd be a bit anxious about was having the November 2002 edition of "U.
S. Wildlife Permit Laws for Dummies" in January 2004 and having the
sneaking feeling that major changes might have been made in 2003 in one or
more jurisdictions that I didn't know about.  So the obvious place for your
book is on a web site, with all parties contributing to it (but just the
thought of all the governmental agencies cooperating is enough to make me
fall on the floor with an attack of the giggles) and updating it whenever
appropriate.  All of us in this "business" could check it out, but it would
have to have a good search engine for "arthropods in national forests in
southern Arizona by an undergraduate volunteer at a university museum" or
similar levels of specificity.

One of the things that has occurred to me over the years is that there are
more barriers against what many of us do for our livelihood and passion
than there are in most occupations.  Collecting (killing) animals is looked
on with distaste by an ever-larger proportion of at least Americans, even
though it is an occupation firmly planted in our genome, and I think this
moral viewpoint goes a long way to explain why permits have become ever
more difficult.  It's not because of endangered species problems, as there
are many strict regulations about the most abundant creatures.  I suppose
the fact that less and less of the landscape is available for specimen
collecting plays a part as well.  So as wild places disappear, it becomes
more imperative to sample their populations for permanent specimen
preservation, and it becomes ever harder to do that.  And I'm talking about
collecting common insects, not spotted owls.

And that's not even beginning to talk about the barriers in other
countries, which make ours look inconsequential!  A book I might be
inclined to write would be called "Dummies in Wildlife Permit Laws."

As I do think your idea is a good one, I'm sending copies of this post to
two other lists concerned with permits.

Dennis

Dennis Paulson, Director                           phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History                 fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound                       e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html