ASMD Speaks Out Against H.R. 2943

From: anatomy@acl.nyit.edu

For those of you in the USA, and all others who might be interested, here is the text of two resolutions passed unanimously by the Association of Science Museum Directors (ASMD) at their annual meeting on 5 May, 1996. The ASMD comprises the Directors of more than 50 of the top Science Museums in the USA.

The two resolutions follow (did I mention that they were passed unanimously?):

Association of Science Museum Directors

RESOLUTION CONCERNING H.R. 2943, THE FOSSIL PROTECTION ACT OF 1996

RESOLUTION:

Whereas, the Association of Science Museum Directors supports the protection of public paleontological resources, and

Whereas, the bill proposed by Representatives Johnson and Skeen, known as H.R. 2943, the Fossil Protection Act of 1996, provides for the commercialization of public fossil resources, and

Whereas, the bill does not reflect either public opinion or a preservation philosophy,

Therefore, be it resolved that the Association of Science Museum Directors, representing over fifty major institutional repositories of our nation's natural heritage, stands in strong opposition to H.R. 2943, and

Be it further resolved that the Association pledges to work with other scientific and educational organizations in promoting responsible legislation for the protection of paleontological resources from public lands.

RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES, AND OUR NATIONAL HERITAGE

RESOLUTION:

Whereas, paleontological resources are a part of our natural and cultural heritage, and

Whereas, paleontological resources provide unique scientific and educational opportunities in our public institutions, and

Whereas, paleontological resources are essentially non-renewable resources that are scientifically significant and contribute to the knowledge and understanding of our natural heritage, and

Whereas, paleontological resources from public lands belong to the American people and no individual has the right to dispose of them for personal gain, and

Whereas, public institutions have assumed the responsibility as stewards of our paleontological resources by preserving fossils in the public trust,

Therefore, be it resolved that every effort should be taken to protect and preserve our paleontological resources from public lands, and

Be it further resolved that our public paleontological resources from public lands must be protected from the threat of private sale or trade, and

Be it further resolved that public paleontological resources should find proper disposition in a public museum or institution where they will be properly conserved, cared for, made available for scientific research and education, and used as a significant learning resource for the greater public benefit.

Both Resolutions passed unanimously at the Annual Meeting of the ASMD May 5, 1996, Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Paul Betsy M. Bennett, President

----------

There you have it, folks: another indication that H.R. 2943 needs to be refined somewhat before it will prove acceptable to the Museum community.

From: Jeff Poling

>Whereas, the bill does not reflect either public opinion

How do they know this? The one and only poll I'm aware of is the one by the SVP which is dubious at best because

1. it only polled 300 people which is too small a sample size to accurately reflect the opinions of 250,000,000 people; [I was in error on this point; 300 is a statistically valid sample size. See the article "Analysis of the SAFE poll on fossil collecting" for a complete analysis of the poll. -- ed.]

2. it made no attempt to discover the level of paleontological knowledge of the pollees. I strongly suspect that those who know and understand all the issues surrounding fossils, collection, the state of the science, etc. would give different answers than those who know nothing; and

3. the poll produced highly contradictory results, showing either the poll was very poorly constructed and any results are suspect, or the pollees really didn't understand the issues making any results suspect.

>[ the bill does not reflect] a preservation philosophy,

....complete and utter BS.

>Whereas, paleontological resources provide unique scientific and
>educational opportunities in our public institutions, and

Sweeping generalization and perhaps a bit of an overstatement.

>Whereas, paleontological resources are essentially non-renewable
>resources that are scientifically significant and contribute to the
>knowledge and understanding of our natural heritage, and
>
>Whereas, paleontological resources from public lands belong to the
>American people and no individual has the right to dispose of them
>for personal gain, and

Non-renewable resources such as oil, gold, and others are commonly extracted from public lands by commercial companies for profit. These items belong to the American people too, yet companies are permitted to buy them from the people and sell them at a profit. If no individual has a right to dispose of fossils for personal gain, than neither do they have a right to dispose of oil or other resources for personal gain. Shut those lands down NOW!

>Whereas, public institutions have assumed the responsibility as
>stewards of our paleontological resources by preserving fossils in
>the public trust,

...if these public institutions had the money, facilities and manpower to properly and fully realize this stewardship then this passage might have more meaning.

>Therefore, be it resolved that every effort should be taken to
>protect and preserve our paleontological resources from public
>lands, and

...they better be prepared to empty their own pocketbooks. This ain't gonna happen otherwise....

>Be it further resolved that our public paleontological resources
>from public lands must be protected from the threat of private sale
>or trade, and

Typical. Ban the trade rather than work with those who wish to trade. No doubt they liked the Baucus Bill, which made picking up a rock on federal lands a criminal offense.

>Be it further resolved that public paleontological resources should
>find proper disposition in a public museum or institution where they
>will be properly conserved, cared for, made available for scientific
>research and education, and used as a significant learning resource
>for the greater public benefit.

Funny ... without the resources to do so, how is this going to happen? How many more decades will those casts sit in the basement of BYU stadium? How many fossils per year are destroyed by erosion?

>There you have it, folks: another indication that H.R. 2943 needs to
>be refined somewhat before it will prove acceptable to the Museum
>community.

The "museum community", which I suspect is an overbroad generalization, isn't going to be happy until ALL property rights are stripped from us, both public and private (carefully read the SVP poll).

Association of Science Museum Directors

Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
American Museum of Natural History
Anniston Museum of Nat. Hist., Alabama
Bishop Museum
Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Buffalo Museum of Science
Burpee Museum of Nat. Hist., Illiabama
California Academy of Sciences
Calvert Marine Museum
Canadian Museum of Nature
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Cranbrook Institute of Science
Dallas Museum of Natural History
Delaware Museum of Nat. Hist.
Denver Museum of Natural History
Discovery 2000, Birmingham, Alabama
DUniv. Museum, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Exhibit Museum, Univ. of Michigan
Field Museum of Natural History
Florida Museum of Natural History
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Illinois State Museum
Kingman Museum of Nat. Hist., Battle Creek, Michigan
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Milwaukee Public Museum
Mississippi Museum of Nat. Science
Missouri Botanical Garden
Museum of Northern Arizona
Museum of Chicago Academy of Nat. Sciences
Museum of Nat. Hist., Univ. of Kansas
Museum of Science, Boston
Museum of Science, Boston
National Museum of Nat. Hist., Smithsonian Institution
Nevada State Museum
New Jersey State Museum
New Mexico Museum of Natural History
New York Botanical Garden
New York State Museum
North Carolina Museum of Nat. Hist.
Peabody Museum of Natural History
Royal British Columbian Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
San Bernandino County Museums
San Diego Museum of Man
San Diego Nat. Hist. Museum
Santa Barbara Museum of Nat. Hist.
Schiele Museum of Nat. Hist. and Planetarium
Science Museums of Charlotte, Inc.
St. Louis Science Center
The Heard Nat. Science Museum, Texas
The Museum, Michigan State Univ.
The New Brunswick Museum
The Science Museum of Minnesota
Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum
Univ. Museum, Univ. of Arkansas
Univ. Museum, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Univ. of Nebraska State Museum
Utah Museum of Nat. Hist.
Virginia Museum of Nat. Hist.