[meteorite-list] Meteorite hunting ethics

From: Mark Bowling <minador_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:23:04 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <704867.37880.qm_at_web54402.mail.yahoo.com>

Claim jumping implies trespassing onto clearly marked piece of land wihin which the claim holders have the legal right to the minerals and/or rock materials. In this case there is no legal process to claim meteorites. The landowners have ownership of these meteorites. Only the people who have collected stones from this fall know the legal status of the land. Jack and his crew apparently have the permission of the landowner to hunt them.

I think there are two things of importance here: Respecting private property and recording data when you remove any material. If you?re trespassing on private property while looking for meteorites, that is a serious breach of ethics in my opinion. If you?re trespassing on public property (like land incorporated by Benson, State Land, BLM, etc,) that?s a gray area. It appears that there are as many opinions regarding collecting on public lands as there are people in this forum. Even the legal agencies have different understandings internally. We don?t know who owns the land. It could be State land and Jack?s team was given exclusive permission to hunt the fall while working with the U of A. It could be private property.

If people knew that I had excusive knowledge of a new strewnfield, I wouldn?t want anybody tailing me, especially from my house. I suppose it?s legal to follow me to a site to which I have no legal claim. But I would feel a bit threatened and violated if I found out I had been under a stakeout from my house. I don?t think Carl had that intent, or he would have asked for Mike?s address. So no I wouldn?t want to be tailed under any case.

On the other hand, I would have no right to stop others from looking for the fall (using all means available, which include, recognizing my vehicle or collecting information on any vehicle spotted in the area for confirmation purposes). It was stated in a recent email that at West it was common for people to be able to recognize the vehicles of other hunters. I wasn?t reading about the West fall, but did anybody complain then? We don?t know what Carl was planning ? he says he was trying to confirm who owned the vehicles he saw in the area. The Border Patrol freely shared with me where they have seen others looking for the fall. I didn?t think to ask that question; they happened to mentioned it. I did see one car leaving an area and I tried to look away as I drove by, but I couldn?t fight the urge to look at the occupants?

I think the best way to protect a fall is to not share any information until you?re comfortable that you?ve collected enough data to satisfy the needs of science. Releasing photos only fueled the search (especially one on the outskirts of meteorite city). Had no information been released, interest would have only died off, but for a few dedicated hunters. Those who are watching the action from their keyboard would still have enjoyed seeing the photos and reading the accounts months later.

I have no problem with Jack and the others keeping quiet about the location. Nor do I have a problem with anyone else hunting for the fall site. I say good luck to all the searchers, but if you do find the site, make sure you know the status of the land and have permission before you remove any material (and always collect data ? and eventually share the info with Jack?s team for the sake of science).

Mark
Vail, AZ


--- On Sat, 7/18/09, JoshuaTreeMuseum <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com> wrote:

> From: JoshuaTreeMuseum <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite hunting ethics
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009, 1:24 PM
> Rob,
>
> It sounds like you're describing a claim jumping dry
> gulcher to me.?
> Phil Whitmer
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Sat 18 Jul 2009 06:23:04 PM PDT