Collecting In the Huachucas

[Michael Gates]

Hi all,

Doug Yanega wrote:

<SNIP>
>>         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 (

Although I cannot comment on the demeanor of the NPS official, we can all see
the skewed effect afforded by possession of only half of the story.  It seems
safe to say that the NPS official was responsible for biasing Mr. Brodkin with
his rendition of the event (this assumes that Doug Yanega and company told no
one else about the event who could have informed Mr. Brodkin during the
intervening 
time between the event and the posting of it on the interent) given that Mr.
Brodkin has admitted close association with Coronado National Memorial
officails --

"In defense of the Park personnel at Coronado, many of whom I know,
including the Superintedent, whom I like to think of as a personal
friend."

Is it NPS policy to blab about citations in such a way as to twist the
events concerning that citation?  That seems highly unprofessional to me.

<SNIP> more Doug Yanega text

>>         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??

This incident should be chalked up to sampling an outlier on the "Ranger Event
Response Scale".  I'm not trying to insult anyone, rather I merely want to
point
out that when dealing with any type of NPS official, ranger, or whomever,
that there
will be a variety of responses to infractions, unintentional or otherwise.
Although
this observation is probably a 'no-brainer', it allows me to segue nicely
into one of the
underlying issues: knowledge of the law and professionalism.  Certainly,
not every insect collector or NPS official
will have (or should be expected to have) a 100% complete memorization of
ALL pertinent laws, 
regulations and other minutiae pertaining to all possible scenarios that
could occur. BUT,
there should be a uniformity of professionalism concerning responses to
'common' infractions (ticketing insect collectors in SE AZ in July?) and an
asessment of any mitigating circumstances on a case-by-case basis.  Maybe
the NPS official should not have been so 'surly' or 'officious' and let
them off with a warning since no insects were collected, thus the Coronado
NM was unharmed. Or maybe the net wielder should have known not to display
a net in a National Memorial (if that is indeed a regulation). Whatever the
case, it seems that enhanced knowledge of the regulations and
professionalism might have saved two
hours of headaches on that day.


Hank Brodkin wrote:

<SNIP>
>The fact that they are sometimes overzealous in the performance of their
>jobs is perhaps a result of the strain put on the one law eforcement
>Ranger having to deal daily with a mutlitude of problems. 

As a paid law enforcement professional, the ranger should have been a bit 
more polite.  It's his job to deal "with a multitude of problems" in a 
reasonable manner.  After all, it's not as if Doug and Co. were engaging
in some wild, drunken orgy of insect annihilation at Coronado - they had 
to use the bathroom. 

>I will have to
>admit that I do not know whether posessing a net in your car on National
>Park land is illegal - as I have driven there with a net in my car. 
>Certainly waving a net on National Park land in front of the visitor's  

This is actually an interesting point.  I'll see if I can find something about
it and post it if I do.

Cheers,

Mike

Michael Gates
Department of Entomology
University California
Riverside, CA 92521
(909) 787-5740
gates at citrus.ucr.edu
All opinions expressed are my own and not UCR's