Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm sure you guys have already seen this, but on the off chance you haven't it may warrant further investigation. Check out this link:

http://www.parcplace.org/minutes/SteeringCommittee1Meeting2000.pdf

It's a .pdf of the meeting notes from the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation proceedings that were held back in 2000. There are several sections of interest but page 2 indicates that:

the group examined coordination of state and federal regulations, formation of a sustainable use policy, reports regarding captive breeding and native species, guidelines of highly regulated wild take and release protocols, and clarification of "commercial" vs "hobbyist."

It doesn't get more specific, but the notes list the meeting participants and if we were to contact them there may be some information to glean that may benefit the cause.

The website indicates that:
"PARC members are committed to managing reptile and amphibian populations in a sustainable manner that will integrate the conservation, protection, use, and enhancement of their populations, habitats, and ecosystems."

That sounds like a mission statement that would make everyone happy.

I have been a member of PARC since its inception. We need to tread carefully there. PARC is made up of mostly academics. Many of them do not agree that people should keep herps and they don't like collecting unless it is for a museum or research and then take all you want.

I have been harping on them for at least 5 years to get the private herpers involved. Most could careless. I kept on and on talking about the large missing stakeholder group. Finally, last year at the SE conference meeting they decided to make an effort to reach out to their brothers, the private herpers, and were supposed to be sending some folks to the expo in Daytona. I don't know if they did.

Mike Welker
El Paso, TX

Who are the academics that are interested in herp conservation in Texas? Perhaps there is something that can be done to bring folks together. As a professional archaeologist, I saw the same thing in my discipline up to about 15 years ago. Amateurs, or avocationalists as I prefer to call them, were often treated as pot-hunters (read vandals/criminals), even though most were law-abiding and wanted to help and be involved. And just like in the herping community, some of them knew far more than the average academic. All that has pretty much changed the past 15 years and it is common now for professionals to involve avocationalists in their their projects and it is the avocationalists that are doing the best job patrolling the sites and keeping them free from the true vandals.

I think the same turn-around can happen with the herping community IF the herping community is willing to set aside any old grievances, organize as Joe Forks and some others here seem to be doing, AND (and I think this is important), if the herpers are willing to step up and provide documentation and information to the academics and to patrol the discipline. As herpers, I think there is a responsibility if we want to call ourselves conservationists, to help out in any way we can. On the academics side, there has to be some willingness to meet halfway. That can happen with some people and not others...but given my experience in archaeology, if the herpers organize effectively and are self policing, it can work. I am seeing signs of good working relationships in Arizona with the Tucson Herpetological Society, which includes both academics and hobbyists.

This said, the current lobbying efforts are commendable and I am all for them (and by the way, I agree that it is not wise to include commercial collecting in those efforts), however, I do not think that in the long run, unless there is a formal organization established, that there will be success. I think this has to be a class act with a group of respected people on the board of a non-profit organization established with the sort of mission statement the PARC came up with. I know I may get flamed here for this, but I think the charter of such an organization should specifically exclude commercial collecting.

What do you guys think? I guess this is a bit presumptuous for me to propose given I am new to this forum as of a year or so ago. I will plead middle age and many a year hunting elusive little gray snakes!

--Henry Wallace