There is no attempt to minimize anything.

I got what you were saying. I was indicating that I see some merit in not saying, "Oh well everything is #@!*^ up already so I'll just do whatever". To me its well worth doing some research to resolve what the base characteristics of, say thayeri, are before selecting potential breeders. I for instance look for a nice symmetrical tri-lobed patterns on the head and iris color among other things. There are also characteristics that scream other populations that I avoid. I also look for animals that are obviously well taken care of and a breeder is somewhat versed in the natural history of the animals he works with. This last bit somewhat subjective but if one wants to minimize further hybridization moving forward I don't think its something you can ignore.

For instance, many of our western rattlesnakes were the same species a few years ago, now they are not, they have been divided into different species. In the past those producing these pure snakes were actually producing hybrids.

I think this is THE legitimate point to locality breeding. I forget who said it but they were correct in stating "locality is the only thing that can be pure". If "purity" is your thing locality breeding is the way to go.
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