Collecting In the Huachucas

[Doug Yanega]

>A couple of interesting developments sown our way re: collecting in the
>Huachuca Mountains.
>
>The first incident can be blamed on shear stupidity - the kind of thing
>which will not make things easier for folks who like to study
>butterflies by collecting them.  A person who identified himself as a
>grad student was caught by NPS personnel leading a group with butterfly
>nets and taking butterflies on National Park land in Coronado National
>Memorial.  In addition they had a loaded gun.
>As one who has always tried to lessen the friction of those who pursue
>the study of butterflies by collecting and by other means - I would
>really like to thank the stupid SOB responsible and might suggest that
>his Degree be rescinded.  He obviously is not a credit to his university
>or to science in general.  The reason I say this was really a stupid
>thing to do is that there are thousands of acres of adjoining National
>Forest land were recreational collecting is allowed without any permit.

It would also help if *you* got your facts straight. It so happens that I
was one of the people in that group (no one was "leading" it, really), and
we were NOT collecting butterflies there. We were driving through, stopped
to go to the restroom and throw out our trash (the Coronado National
Memorial is basically a parking lot, a plaque, and an outhouse, covering a
few acres, tops - and about the only restroom for about 30 miles in either
direction), and one member of our group of 10 pulled out his net to kill
some time while others were taking some pictures and such. Within a matter
of minutes, a park ranger pulled up in his Bronco and asked him what he was
doing, confiscated his net, proceeded to search his vehicle, then grilled
us and forced us to sit in the sun for two hours (while he took pictures of
the net and filled out his paperwork) - even though our colleague hadn't
collected anything, and even though it was nowhere indicated as we
approached the area that it was National Parks land. Be honest - how many
of you *automatically* assume that a "National Memorial" that occupies a
few acres qualifies as a National Park, or that a ranger will be lurking
around such a place accusing people with nets of being criminals? Do you
HONESTLY think that anyone in ANY group of entomologists would be so stupid
as to attempt to collect in an area that was clearly a National Park?
        If anyone here is not a credit to his office, it's an officious,
surly, condescending Park Ranger who issues 200 dollar fines for
"possession of an insect net in a National Park" to polite, cooperative
people who had no idea that it WAS a National Park, and forces them to sit
for hours in the sun while he sits in his car and writes out the citations.
He didn't CARE whether we knew it was a National Park or not, he didn't
CARE whether any insects had actually been collected, he only cared about
writing out that citation and - evidently - spreading more false rumors
about how evil those butterfly collectors are, to come into his Park (with
a legal, registered, loaded handgun stashed away securely in one vehicle,
no less! Who could ever imagine that people on camping trips in remote
areas near the Mexican border might actually be worried about their
safety?!) and knowingly collect insects illegally. In fact, he claimed that
university people come onto his land all the time and intentionally collect
illegally, and he informed us that if we had actually *collected* any
insects, he would have assessed an *additional* 200 dollar fine, on top of
the one for possession of the net. I, for one, would like to know if simple
possession of a net in a National Park really IS illegal, and whether that
truly means that people on collecting trips in Arizona are breaking the law
every time they drive through the Coronado National Memorial (you cannot
drive along that road WITHOUT passing through it). I also can't believe
anyone would actually waste their time collecting *IN* the CNM (as the
ranger implied) when you can collect completely legally a few hundred yards
up or down the road from it, *except* purely by accident.
        You were fed the version of the story that makes it sound like the
Ranger was the good guy, and I can assure you, he was not. I've dealt with
plenty of parks people over the years, and this was the meanest-spirited
individual I've ever met in such a position. Those of us on the trip were
even planning to file a complaint about his behavior - or do you honestly
believe that Park Rangers should routinely issue 200 dollar fines for every
accidental violation of unposted rules, instead of giving a simple warning?
Is "guilty until proven innocent" *your* preferred approach??
        Ordinarily, I never would have brought this unpleasant encounter up
in public, but you compelled me to respond. But heck, maybe it's a good
thing this came out in public - I have half a mind to organize a protest,
attended by the media, where a few hundred insect collectors gather at the
CNM and wave our nets in the air in front of the ranger, and see if he
feels like writing citations to all of us while the cameras are rolling.
Maybe THAT would alert people to the absurdity of the whole thing.
Possession of an insect net is NOT a crime, people, and it's a sad and
twisted excuse for logic that's required to *make* it one.

Sincerely,


Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
           http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82