Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry we haven't posted this yet, but I've been out of town for the Past week and Joe's currently out of town. We have not been involved in any sort of "conspiracy", but we are working on this and working hard.

Please understand that right now we are at a point where patience will win us more than flying off at the handle!

On June 25, President of HerpConservationUnlimited Joe Forks met with representatives of Harvey Hildebran's office. The dialogue has been opened, and there is reason to hope that the interests of hobbyists will be honestly and sincerely considered, and that we have a shot at correcting this mess. I must note, however, that it was more or less confirmed that this legislation (road-hunting) was sold to the Representatives as an effort to stop "commercial collecting", and that they remain opposed to commercial collecting.

The Officers for HerpConservationUnlimited are:

President: Joe Forks
VP for Conservation: Troy Hibbitts
VP for Recreation: Todd Hughes
VP for Partnerships: Jason Penney
Secretary/Treasurer: Nathan Wells
Editor: Todd Lapittus
Board Member: Roy Engeldorf
Board Member: Lance Benton
Board Member: Daryl Eby

Once the official constitution has been ratified and moved out of the "draft" stage, I will post it, but think "Ducks Unlimited" for herps - an organization that acknowledges that herp conservation is intimately tied to having citizens of this country who care about the herps - the hobbyist herper.

We also have provisions in place in the constitution to allow other organizations to "loan" us their membership for the purposes of representation.

Finally, please tone down the hyperbole and extreme rhetoric. We want to continue to be able to discuss these things with the Reps and TPWD, and to continue to be taken seriously by them. Some of the discussion on here only serves to perpetuate the idea that the herp community is just a bunch of kooks.

Troy Hibbitts

I think many will be surprised and pleased at the scope and expertise of this new organization. Now can we get on with the business at hand?

Brad Chambers

that the list of officers and board members were nominated to interim position.

I agreed to serve on the board temporarily because I have the time, the interest, and have cultivated a few contacts. Ultimately, a more experienced and recognized herper should take my spot. In any case, I will continue to work as hard as my schedule permits

On the contrary, Daryl-I see you as the perfect person to have on the Board. We will definitely need your experience on issues of land and Real Estate.

Brad Chambers

I also will step down should someone more qualified appear. But for now, I am excited to be able to try and wrangle us some trips in WMA's and the like, and to provide us with safe, family type herping. Once that is done we will have something to show the legislators! But I get ahead of myself. Mike, I hope this will satisfy your questions if not answer some of those questions.
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Todd Hughes

You are an experienced herper! Just look at those lovely herps! LOL, you get more experience every day!
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Todd Hughes

Troy,

So you are saying that HH told all the House and Senate members that:

Commercail collection was bad and that it was coming from road collection activities by herpers?

They took his word and passed HB 12 and the pre-amendments?

You are saying this is how it happened? Who told you that?

That is NOT how commercail collection is occurring in this state. Most of it comes from the hundreds of drfit fences and bucket traps in the desert around El Paso.

What is HCU's position in regards to commercail collection? That is all I need to know.

Thanks,

Mike Welker
El Paso, TX

Mike, what is your email...

Drop me a note at

LanceBenton @ sbcglobal DOT net

I will try to fill you in some details as I see them on regulating commercial take.

I do not want to drop them out here on the forum unless they are formally accepted by enough people, it is not just herpers reading these post after all.

Lance

I was just about to post that we needed some kind of feedback.
You guys have come up with what I consider the best possible solution at this point.
People that are trustworthy are on the board, and a bright future ahead.
Finally, someone comes clean about what the true gist of this law is. So, IMO, as an anti-commercial law, it is all about conservation.
That means something like bag limits, and probably easily acceptable ones. No problem. I assume that eventually, a standard hunting license will suffice, with no extra stamps or etc.
HOpefully, this will be ironed out pretty soon. The only question we really have right now is what's the time-frame look like on correctly wording the "law", and how soon can we buy memberships?
Again, great work, guys, and thanks. You know, we 'little people' are willing to help if we can. Keep us in the loop.
-Jack
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V.P.
Austin Herp. Soc.

"Finally, someone comes clean about what the true gist of this law is. So, IMO, as an anti-commercial law, it is all about conservation."

Just playing Devil's Advocate, but if it is "an anti-commercial law",why did the entire House approve the amendment which excepted herps ie had no effect on commercial take, before the rider fiasco??
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Lloyd Heilbrunn

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

My impression is that they heard our arguements and voted accordingly. Unfortunately, those arguements were not accepted or comprehended by the author HB12 and thus the amendment was dropped from the rider.

Now, we are making headway with HH and some in TPWD. We stand a good chance of replacing it with regulations that REALLY address their concern.

Troy,

Glad to hear that you guys have got things moved along as well as you have. I think you are headed in the right direction but we all need to realize that it is not going to be something that comes to fruit overnight. For you to be successful in the direction you are going we really need to get a lot of folks here calmed down so that 'Herp Conservation Unlimited' does not get shot in the foot, so to speak.

I think you have put together a good core group and I know you guys have put a lot of your own time and personal resources into getting things this far along and I for one appreciate everyone's hard work and I support what you are doing. Just let me know when you open the doors for membership.
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Gerald Keown
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
www.southwesternherp.com

If these were issued, TP&W would have a more accurate scope of the numbers of people involved and the amount of lost revenue due to HB 12. This would have been a good plan to implement BEFORE cutting off monies so desperately needed by TP&W.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

Now I go on record as saying , people, listen to what Gerold is saying, he predicted what was gonna happen and it did, exactly like he said it would, they put this in a rider and got it in. Now let's all chill and talk reasonably.
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Todd Hughes

I went on online to register and set us up with both last night .ORG and .COM versions

Now, we need a provider to host the space and IP address...

Lance

Thi sis great, let me know when we can sign up. I would vote for everybody one there except that todd huges guy, he couldnt catch an alterna if it bit him. Just messing with you todd, you got my vote.
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South Texas Herps

haha, from what I've heard they all bite! Now if we could get our little group down here to add the numbers.....
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Todd Hughes

whats going on with BAHA? I havent heard much from anyone lately
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South Texas Herps

Yep, it's getting sad, we need some private land herp trips!
Todd Hughes
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Todd Hughes

I'm glad to hear the organization is official. This is a tremendous opportunity for herpers to make a difference and really change things for the better. Kudos Joe and the others who have worked on this. See my previous post on PARCs for some ideas.
Cheers,
Henry W.

Sorry about that Troy, I know you are working on this...my post should have listed your name as well as Joe and the others who are helping. --Henry

As a concerned, out-of-Texas herper (who has spent serious $$$$ on 1 to 6 trips a year to west and south Texas per year since 1982), I have to sincerely applaud this move to form such an organization, as being the most reality driven, long term tool to help all concerned.
Because of the quantity of herpers across the country today, the time has come for such organization, nationwide.
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Though not a duck hunter, but as a herper, I have cheered the efforts of the likes of Ducks Unlimited, because their efforts have saved wetlands across the country. These areas are often hunted for a few months a year, but are habitat havens for enumerable non-game species, all year long.
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As a member of VA chapter of Trout Unlimited, a cold water fishery organization, I worked shoulder–to-shoulder with fisheries biologists, sportsmen, LE, academics, legislators, etc. on stream improvement projects. The “Us and Them” division was dramatically reduced, because there was some form of payback for all:
1...Fisheries biologists got allot of free labor (often the only way to make stream structure.)
2...Sportsmen, the largest and most financially significant group, got much more quality fishing water.
3...LE got a bunch of law abiding citizens who reported game violations; more eyes and ears.
4...Academics gave direction to projects that could be used for Ichthyologic studies.
5...Legislator fishermen saw opportunities with votes and lobbyists.
6...etc. – uh…. I’m not sure what etcetera got, except maybe honorable mention in “The King and I”. LOL
7...Kids could participate.
8...As a member you could be an activist or sit home and read the newsletter, knowing what your dues were paying for.
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The point is that an organization that is supported mostly by lay herpers and includes fish and game biologists, wildlife officers, academics, legislators, and the all important etc. can get win-win solutions to issues.
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It seems to me that name of the game is to get a responsible voice that respects the interests of all member sub-groups, works within the system, and can be heard above the whining.
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Win, loose, or draw on the current issue, big thanks to you Texans for all the work done so far.

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Regards, Bill McGighan