[meteorite-list] New position on hunting BLM lands

From: Yinan Wang <veomega_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 20:58:32 -0500
Message-ID: <s2ra4744b831005051858v336d7d37r89855e8a180ba2c4_at_mail.gmail.com>

Respectfully (and not to be taken as legal advice): I don't see how
this is really new either, although different states occasionally have
different readings of the various rules/antiquity laws. Some BLM state
websites choose to make people more aware of certain laws than others.

The Old Woman meteorite case occured in 1975, on California BLM, and
referred to the Antiquities Act :

"Since the meteorite was on public land administered by the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM), the prospectors filed a mining claim on the
site. To their disappointment they learned that meteorites were not a
locatable mineral as defined by the mining law. Instead, under the
provisions of the Antiquities Act, meteorites found on public land
were considered objects of scientific interest and therefore should go
to the Smithsonian Institution."

Regarding the "25 lbs per day or 250 lbs" : that has always been the
BLM rule regarding petrified wood in all states:
"BLM regulations allow the collection of 25 pounds per day of
petrified wood plus one piece, provided that the total removed by one
person does not exceed 250 pounds in one callendar year. Pooling of
quotas to obtain pieces larger than 250 pounds is not allowed.
(43CFR3622.4)"

So I guess Arizona for a while decided to follow the petrified wood
rules regarding meteorities rather than the Antiquities rules.

As far as I can tell, there are no specific rules regarding meteorities:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/cfrassemble.cgi?title=200343
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/43cfrv2_03.html

It depends on each state's BLM's interpretation of the rules and what
they decide to update their website with.

- YvW





On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 8:25 PM, David Norton <renov8hotels at earthlink.net> wrote:
> This is a new position. The previous / current (AZ BLM website) allowed for
> non commercial collecting of 25 lbs per day and a 250 LB annual maximum.
> This new posture very clearly states that "National Parks and Public lands
> generally prohibit removal of rocks from them" followed by "Report illegal
> collecting or vandalism". National Parks have always been off limits, but
> not public lands in general. The website clearly characterizes all
> collecting on public lands as illegal.
>
Received on Wed 05 May 2010 09:58:32 PM PDT