E-mail: bolidechaser@yahoo.com
Cell: (818) 599-5071
website: http://meteorite-recovery.org/
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“meteorites found on public lands are part of the BLM’s surface estate, belong to the federal government”
Public lands means lands owned by all of us. It does not “belong to the federal government”!
What does “BLM estate” mean? I don’t know. But I do know that the BLM works for us. Their only job is to maintain our (public) lands for “us” (their employers – the taxpayers).
Not to moonlight as meteorite appraisers.
The problem centers on federalist bureaucrats that think they know what’s best for the public.

Bob V.
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Robert Verish
Principal Field Investigator
Meteorite-Recovery Lab
P.O. Box 463084
Escondido, CA
USA 92046

E-mail: bolidechaser@yahoo.com
Cell: (818) 599-5071
website:
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why don’t you publish this w/o the writer’s name under a search name that will be available to others just searching for more info. on an area? or send this into the local papers under comments?

or use it as a “forward” then it will be sent to many more people.

thank you.

In the article, National Park Service Supervisor Tom Contreras laments that he doesn’t have enough personnel to properly clean up or patrol the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, so he pins the blame on park visitors. That’s nonsense.

If a trash problem is occurring in a small geographic area wouldn’t it make sense to pull park personnel away from the other 640,000 acres of unvisited empty space and assign more people to the area that is attracting visitors? Aren’t recreation areas meant to attract visitors? Why aren’t rangers assigned to observe and cite people for dropping diapers and litter in the river? All the miners I know are terrific about hauling away their own trash and then some.

Just because an area is popular with the public is no reason to deny access. By the logic of the Park Service every beach, park and popular recreation area in the country should be closed because people leave litter behind. If Contreras is in charge of park personnel, isn’t he really to blame for failing to assign cleanup crews where they are most needed? Instead he blames the public for wanting to use some areas of the park and not others. Isn’t that a little like a lifeguard blaming the public for showing up at the beach?

Actually, having more people all in one limited area should make their cleanup and enforcement roles easier, not harder. Shouldn’t it be easier to patrol 100 acres of river than 640,000 acres of open space? What they really want is no one visiting the park at all so that they can sit on their backsides and do nothing. The whole situation is ridiculous. If Contreras doesn’t like serving the public he should find another job. The trouble is he thinks his job is to serve the trees, rocks and bushes and protect them from the people. He’s got it backwards. He’s a public servant and his job is to serve the public.

Tom Heffernan
Member of SPMA & TSSD
San Diego, CA

That said, knowing how club members try to stay within the law, but more important follow a morale standard on trying to do the right thing, for once I think the government is working in our interest guiding all the new & hopeful Meteorite Man inspired get-rich-quick hunters, going out there for all the wrong reasons. For me and dare I say for us, nothing changes as far as I can tell.

Jeff