To collect or not to collect

[Stanley A. Gorodenski]

> Any suggestions? Does anyone know were else Asterocampa flora in Broward
> County, Florida?

"Any suggestions?"  I have only one suggestion.  We should all stop
wasting time on this "Collector" debate and organize as a group
(political force?) and direct our energies to actively stop habitat
destruction.  Setting aside preserves, etc., restrictions on collectors
(who are not the threat), and other such draconian measures, will not
work in the long run if all else is plundered.

Stan Gorodenski

Leptraps at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Here I go again!
> 
> To collect or not to collect! I would love to get into this fray, however,
> you are all worried about somebody collecting all of some rare bug that has
> four common names, one scientific name and a bunch of save the world of
> butterflies from the collectors folks hot on the collectors back. Well, lets
> get serious. I have been operating bait traps and pheromone traps in a rather
> fair size hardwood hammock in Broward County. I was surprised to find Asteroca
> mpa flora (Sorry NABA folks, you will have to find the common name on your
> own. I do not know it) in several traps in late December. I put several more
> out along a canal on the South side of the hammock. On the other side of the
> canal is a land fill that has been closed for over a decade (A nasty smelling
> thing! I often can duplicate the smell after eating Italian food!). I went to
> check my traps and found the hammock GONE! I mean absolutely GONE! Several
> large piles of mulch were present, but not one tree! Even the grass was GONE!
> Here comes another upscale housing development. I saw no one protesting the
> destruction, nor did I here anyone cry out for the butterflies, other than
> me. Oh yes, several weeks after I began to trap in the hammock, "No
> Trespassing" signs were posted to protect endangered habitat. Not from me,
> they wanted to protect it so their bulldozers could destroy it.
> 
> The point is, no collector can match the destruction of butterflies and moths
> like progress!
> 
> Any suggestions? Does anyone know were else Asterocampa flora in Broward
> County, Florida?
> 
> Leroy Koehn
> Lake Worth, Florida

-- 
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't
seem wonderful at all.  -- Michelangelo