Re SVP Poll, and comments thereon (posted for P. Robinson)

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Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 12:14:15 -0700 (MST)
From: Robinson Peter <robinsp@stripe.Colorado.EDU>
To: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk
cc: mows@ucrac1.ucr.edu
Subject: Re SVP Poll, and comments thereon
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The following two letters appeared in SCIENCE, v. 269, p.1497, 15
September 1995. I think they represent the feelings of a lot of
professional paleontologists in regard to the contributions of the
amateur or avocational paleontologists to the science.
1)
It is unfortunate that the Parker family had the misfortune of not
realizing who owned the land where they discovered the Albertosaurus, as
reported in the article "Amateur fossil hunters dig up trouble in
Montana" by Carol Potera (News and Comment, 14 April, p. 198). Amateur
paleontologists are an important resource to many of the paleontology
programs in Colorado. Many professionals have amateur paleontologists
listed as responsible personnel on their state and federal permits. We go
to extra efforts to ensure that the amateurs who work with us collect in
a professional fashion and know the laws and ethics that pertain to
collecting. For vertebrate fossils, the laws and regulations are clear:
to collect on public land you need a permit, and on private lands you
need the land owner's permission.
        Our institutions are the major repositories for fossils in
Colorado. None of the three institutions has made an offer to the Peebles
family to collect the Albertosaurus.
Richard K. Stucky
Denver Museum of Natural History
Peter Robinson
University of Colorado Museum
Brooks Britt
Museum of Western Colorado

2)
As a member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), I am
concerned about some of the implications in Don Miller's letter, "Amateur
fossil hunting" (9 June, p. 1420). SVP's committees on outreach and on
education are working to support the well-recognized contributions made
by the avocational community, and most major public museums in the United
States have strong outreach programs as well. Miller is correct in saying
that at this time it is illegal for avocational paleontologists to
collect fossil vertebrates from federal lands. The SVP is helping to
develop legislation designed to enfranchise avocational collecting on
these lands.
        In 1991, Richard Stucky of the Denver Museum of Natural History
conducted a survey of 33 public institutions in the United States (1). Of
1.8 million catalogued fossil vertebrates specimens, 48% had been
acquired from U. S. public lands; 94% of the 1.8 million were collected by
professional scientists; 6% were donated by avocational paleontologists
and 0.3% were acquired from commercial paleontologists. I hope the
outreach programs cited above will increase the contributions made by the
avocational community.
        It is deplorable that the commercialization of fossils has
resulted in monetary concerns supplanting the scientific and educational
ones. SVP is also working to ensure that our nation's heritage of fossils
is retained in the public domain, rather than being lost to it through
commercial activities.
Michael O. Woodburne
University of California, Riverside

(1) R. K. Stucky and S. Ware, Fossil Collections in Museums, Denver
Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO, 1991.


Peter ROBINSON
Geology Section
University of Colorado Museum
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0315
(303) 492-5211
Fax: (303) 492-5105