[leps-talk] Re:Glassberg

Hank & Priscilla Brodkin hankb at theriver.com
Fri Jan 25 03:17:55 EST 2002


Mark et al -
Regarding your comments below.  Folks who like to collect are welcome to
form their
own field trips.  How many collecting field trips organized by LepSoc or
ATL have any of you been on?  Do you do this monthly in season?  Do you
advertise in the paper that your netting expeditions are open to
public?  Why does not LepSoc and ATL organize the kind of trips that
Mark suggests below.  I belong to both of these organizations and I
would love to go!

I am sorry.  Netting/collecting is not a group thing, no matter how you
may try to convince me that it is.  And it is not what NABA does on
their field trips for the reasons I have stated.  We have fun doing it
our way. And one of the last things I would do is try to "educate" the
few folks who do take offense to collecting. I really don't care if they
feel that way.  That is none of my business! I may not like the way they
vote either, or think that the way they worship will get them into
heaven.  And that is not the purpose of NABA.  NABA was formed to
appreciate butterflies in a certain way.  On our field trips we adhere
to that.  In our back yard, on Butterfly Counts, or with collecting
friends we may not.  We enjoy doing our field trips the NABA way and,
frankly, on our trips the question of collecting rarely comes up. 
Why don't some of you, alone or together, leave your nets at home one
day, get a good pair of close-focus binoculars, or a camera with a macro
lens go out do a walk the NABA way?  You might like it!  In ways it may
be a lot more challenging than you realize.
I am starting to ramble.  It is late here.  I am beat because we just
got home from Tucson - we were attending a meeting of - gasp -
collectors!  Only we don't call them collectors.  We call them folks who
are interested in butterflies, moths and other insects just like we are.
And "Ahh" to you Mark ;-)



Mark Walker wrote:
> 
> Ahh, but Hank went on to say:
> 
> > We do not use nets on our SEABA field trips either.  They are organized
> > like birding trips.  NABA is interested in the"non-conumptive enjoyment
> > of butterflies" -I never said otherwise.
> 
> And:
> 
> > Also if there were the odd person on the field trip who equates
> > collecting with disobeying the Geneva Conventions, they would not be
> > made to feel uncomfortable.
> 
> The problem is that little consideration is given to ensure that the
> collectors in a group aren't made to feel uncomfortable.  Instead, they are
> often asked to "go into the closet", so to speak.  This may seem reasonable,
> given the above assertion that NABA is interested in "non-consumptive"
> butterflying, but it doesn't do much for encouraging "consumptive"
> butterfliers to participate in the first place.
> 
> This is the heart of the problem, I'm afraid.  The better response would be
> to educate the people who may take offense to collecting.  Fortunately,
> increasing numbers of folks who only "watch" are recognizing the value of
> those who are inclined to "consume" (or better worded - admit that they
> "consume", for we all are guilty of that crime), and the two are enjoying
> wonderful moments together in the field.
> 
> Mark Walker
> 


-- 
	             Hank & Priscilla Brodkin
	          Carr Canyon, Cochise County, AZ
                   Send Mailto:hankb at theriver.com
             SouthEast Arizona Butterfly Association
          http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasa/home.html
         "Butterflies of Arizona - a Photographic Guide" 
           by Bob Stewart, Priscilla and Hank Brodkin 
         http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasa/book.html

 
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