Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hope you don't mind.

RPelaez suggested that a group document be drafted (from a yet to be organized opposition group). The thinking is that IF we decide to plead the Fifth Amendment when stopped by LE that it would go over better if such action was endorsed and recommended by a group. The individual herper along the roadside would then

I agreed heartily with his suggestion and proposed a name such as “Roadside Naturalist Against HB12”. I also suggested that you would be the best author due to your dealings with TPWD and your extensive field experience. He concurred that you’d be perfect for the task and also suggested that you’d be well placed to help spearhead the formation of the group by bringing together the various herp groups and other concerned naturalists and sportsmen.

What say you?

I think we're looking "too small".

I think we need to form a large umbrella organization that protects both herps and herpers.

I was going to put together "HerpConservation.Org" this summer as a place for folks interested in donating to herp conservation charities to be able to find those charities . . . but I've been toying with the idea of putting together an Organization (think Ducks Unlimited) that has two aims:

1) protecting wild herp popultions, their habitat, etc (e.g. Herp Conservation)

2) protecting the right of recreational (sport) herpers to go out and enjoy this wildlife resource.

"We only protect what we love, and we only love what we understand" - Aldo Leopold

Herpers are (can be? should be?) herps greatest ally . . . I think that groups like PARC fall short because they don't recognize the link between recreational use and conservation.

Then we can draft our letters of Civil Disobedience, etc.

Oh, and I'll be in Africa from July 8-24 and probably other places from Aug 2-15.

Troy

let's get started.

You remember that silly TPWD position paper sent to the reps providing their justification for this clamp down - the creation of roadside wildlife sanctuaries and the need for this enforcement tool? Texans will have to decide how this enforcement tool is made to look as foolish as the simple-minded bureaucrats and politicians who pushed it down your throats.

R

>>the creation of roadside wildlife sanctuaries

I wish I could attribute that quote to someone in the upper echelon of TPWD. Whomever wrote that is deserving of public ridicule.

Troy-just one question, while it looks that most people have confidence in you as well as I, I would like to ask one question based on your response, isn't there some need for this HB-12 to be addressed as quickly as possible? In other words I am reading into your response a vision you have for reptiles etc, that is a bigger picutre, but based on your experience cannot a coalition of what has been mentioned below be folded into your idea later, but now it seems putting together a letter and getting some media overage would be the first moves. I admit I am not some poitical junkie or even understand this system politics, so I am a noivice so forgive some of my dumb questions if they are indeed dunb, but I don't want to have my research screwed up because of this crappy law. Lets face it the monies spent on a weekend and other issues brought out in discussion below are all true, these guys just don't get the idea of how many hobbyists in Texas there really are? Or do they? Anyway what ever course is taken I want to be involved in the process, I live in Castroville, Texas just outside of San Antonio. IF I can be of any help please let me know. I am checking the forum daily now. I want to be part of some positive change, and I see this issue to be very important if by no other reason than the lose of citizenry rights as they slowly go down the tubes. There needs to be some kind of response and while maybe my ideas up there are very basic, I just thought that this needs a faster response than waiting down the road to put together a larger group with other issues and other ideas that may loose focus on this issue. Thanks for your response to us, and any of your insight is much appreciated. As you can tell I am pretty basic and pretty ignorant at this p[oint, but I am a fast learner. Cheers!!!
-----
www.phrynosoma.org

______

signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]