This weekend a friend emailed me the following information about another attack on the rockhounding hobby.  In 1966 Rockhound State Park near Deming, New Mexico was established as a destination for rock collectors.  Today government bureaucrats want to eliminate rock collecting in the park and change the park’s purpose to educating a respect for the natural environment.

Most rockhounds agree that educating a respect for the natural environment is a good thing and welcome the efforts to do so.  However, they don’t like losing their rights to collect rocks as a way to enforce these efforts.  A system to both allow rock collecting and promote a respect for the natural environment is possible.

Please read the following then help save the rockhounding hobby in a park that was established and named for the hobby.

Email from Laura Joki:

RE-POST EVERYWHERE!!!

The proposed plan may be read at the following web site:
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/documents/RockhoundPMPPublicReviewDraftMarch2011.pdf

But, to save you time, the following is the important part from the proposal
bout rockhounding:

Rockhound State Park was originally established as a destination for
rock collectors. At the time, in 1966, rock collecting was a popular
pastime. Visitors were encouraged to visit the Park in order to collect
rocks, and were allowed to take home up to 15 pounds of rocks.

Today the Division promotes a respect for the natural environment
through interpretive and educational programs. Not only does rock
collecting in a public park contradict the principle of natural resource
protection.

There is only one state park in the United States that permits rock
collecting: Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, which has a
8-acre plowed field set aside for collecting. Nearly all municipal,
state, and national parks prohibit the removal of natural artifacts from
parks. The practice of rock collecting at the Park would need to comply
with NMSA 1978, Section 16-2-32:

“A person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a petty
misdemeanor and shall be sentenced in accordance with the provisions of
Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978:

A. cut, break, injure, destroy, take or remove a tree, shrub, timber,
plant or natural object in any state park and recreation area, except in
areas designated by the secretary and permitted by regulations adopted
by the secretary, such regulations shall only permit the removal of a
tree, shrub, timber, plant or natural object for scientific study or for
non-commercial use by an individual as a souvenir, the quantity of
material authorized for removal from any area shall be strictly
regulated by park personnel in order to minimize resource damage.”

If the Division were to continue to allow the public to collect rocks at
the Park, the EMNRD Cabinet Secretary would designate a specific area
and adopt rules pertaining to the collecting of rocks on Park property
such as the amount and location).

The once popular hobby of rock collecting has declined significantly
since the 1960s. There are local businesses that cater to rock
collectors and can guide or direct them to similar opportunities outside
of the Park. Safety is also a concern with the public collecting rocks
n the Park, as there are steep and unstable slopes that are becoming
more hazardous as the collecting alters the stability of the hillside.
There is also a concern that some visitors may go beyond the Park
boundaries in their quest for rocks.

Park staff has already begun the transition away from rock collecting
and will need to educate the public about the need to respect the
natural resources. One crucial step is to modify all Park information
signage, brochures, website), so that this activity is no longer
encouraged. All materials need to state that it is a prohibited
activity. The namesake theme can continue through educational programs
and interpretive information about the rocks that occur in the Park and
the geology of the region.
ØRevise written materials by removing all mention of rock collecting
and add a reference to the state statute which prohibits rock collecting
on Park property.

Written and oral comments on the plan will be accepted. Comment letters
can be dropped off at the park; mailed to P.O. Box 1147, Santa Fe, NM
7505; e-mailed to nmparks@state.nm.us or faxed to (505) 476-3361.

PLEASE, everyone reading this message, email, snail mail or fax a
written comment in opposition to the proposed plan to discontinue
rockhounding in Rockhound State Park. You have until April 18, 2011 to
make comment, so please get on it today.  Let’s show the NMSPD personnel
that rockhounding has not declined since the 1960s and the park should
remain true to its namesake. Also, all you club members out there,
please let everyone in your club know about this by mass email so we can
get all rockhounds throughout this country engaged in the battle to
save yet another of our fleeting freedoms. This may be in far away New
Mexico now, but in your backyard tomorrow.

PLEASE HELP NOW BECAUSE THERE IS NO TIME TO WAIT!

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