[meteorite-list] Oregon / Washington Meteorite hunting regulations on BLM Land

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 17:48:26 -0500
Message-ID: <AANLkTimW2JZifPi43o0puJP92-C9j5aoTNwRidiwHRcj_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Sonny and List,

My take on this is -

I think the government is covering it's behind, just in case a
significant find is made. But I think there is little desire or
ability to enforce this on every meteorite found by every prospector.

Zealous or "difficult" local BLM officials may use this as an excuse
to hassle people. However, most rank and file enforcement personnel
have more important things to worry about. So it will probably remain
business as usual for the majority of prospectors in the majority of
situations. But, if you find something very significant, the legal
groundwork is in place for the federal government to assert it's
authority and ownership.

Best regards and happy huntings,

MikeG

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Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites

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On 11/8/10, wahlperry at aol.com <wahlperry at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> Sorry for the possible double post. Here is their reply from the BLM in
> Oregon regarding meteorite hunting.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Sonny
>
>
>
>>Sonny: It is the Washington Office Policy that meteorites belong to
> the
>>Federal government, the policy statement on the BLM Oregon/Washington
>>website is taken from the Washington Office, this is partly based on
> Old
>>Woman Meteorite case (under the Antiquities Act) you mentioned and I
> have
>>attached. In practise, there is no official guidance for us on how to
>>manage meteorites nor has this been put into the Code of Federal
>>Regulations and I'm not aware of any enforcement action being taken
> against
>>collectors on public lands. I'm wondering if this policy was written
> more
>>for a significant meteorite find such as the Old Woman case, and would
> give
>>Federal government ability to assert ownership if it decided to, if the
>>meteorite had considerable scientific value? Sorry, this isn't very
> clear
>>cut. Steve
>
>
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Received on Mon 08 Nov 2010 05:48:26 PM PST