Hey Guys,
I'm an AZ herper, but will most likely be moving to TX by summers end and would like to help out in anyway I can. I have my letters written and ready to email( and mail) and have also posted links to this forum on the arizona herp associations website in hopes of getting a few more letters mailed, though I am unsure how many have taken the time to send letters of their own. Financially, I would be willing to pitch in what little I can, but as a graduate student my funds are quite limited. I do, however, work on a daily basis with a number of professors and other academics who specialize in Natural Resource Management and Policy and would gladly go to them with any questions this group may have on how to best present our arguments in opposition of this bill to the legislature.
Beyond that I just wanted to add a few thoughts on things that may be worth doing whether or not a lobbyist or lawyer is hired to represent TX herpers interests. (Some of this may have been addressed before, in which case I apologize for wasting time). First, I have seen a number of individuals mention personal estimates of their herping expenses over the years, but has anyone thought of collecting information from everyone who keeps good financial records on what they spend annually herping west texas and compiling it into a database. Such a database would represent a larger sample size (in both herpers and years) and perhaps be more influential than individual personal estimates when presented to the legislature.
Second, would I be correct in assuming that herpers hit the west texas roads in higher concentrations around the new moon? If so, it might be worth trying to convince the hotels and other local businesses to check and see if they notice a difference between their profits during the week before and after the new moon versus the week before and after the full moon. If their is a noticable difference, it may help convince these businesses to take a more active role in opposing this legislation (profits or the potential for lost profits tend to be very motivating).
Finally, a few people commented before about the fact that herpers may actually help snake populations as they remove snakes from the road that would otherwise be hit by ranchers and others driving through. I honestly think, this might be a good angle to take up from a conservation stand point. (Addressing the fact that roadside cuts probably represent 1% or so of total habitat is probably the best argument against the reduced population claims, but the decrease in road kill angle should definitely be looked into). There was a study addressing motorists responses to different types of herps that I read as an undergraduate that may help support this idea. I would need to search for it again, but basically the study placed reptile "decoys" (ie rubber snakes and turtles) on roadways and observed how motorists responded. If I remember the results correctly the findings were as follows: motorists would either ignore or avoid turtles on the road, but would in many cases change lanes to hit the snake. To me, this would provide at least some justification for the argument that herpers removing snakes from the road may actually benefit populations. I'll see if I can dig this article up again, and if so I'll send it to those who are interested.
In anycase, thanks for taking the time to listen to an out of state herper's ramblings and just let me know what I can do to help.
Chris Williams
gretzkyrh4[at]yahoo[dot]com
