Re: The Dinosaur Egg Debate

["Eric, Diane, Alex and Caroline Winter" <winter@clark.net>]

>representaive of type 2. sub a. ii, I have had the personal displeasure of
>running into type 4's at _THE_ONLY_ place in Maryland that (Dr. Holtz
>probably knows where) one can collect  Lower Cretaceous vertebrate material.
>I am sworn to secrecy as to it's location!  The owners are very leary of
> "strangers" and require clearance from the Smithsonian before they would
>even consider granting permission! There are only 3 or 4 people including
>myself that have permission to enter  at all and I am the only one that has
>been given the key to the place!  I met  a  type 3 who  claims to be only
>interested in collecting sequoia cones but tramples indiscriminantly over a
>section of the outcrop that the  I have been concentrating my efforts in (for
>good reason) potentially damaging material that is usaually already badly
>damaged by company activity.

Tom,

    I have had a similar experience (I live In Baltimore and collect all
over the state). There's an upper K site in central MD that was decimated by
a team of commercial collectors that came in from NJ and hacked out a large
part of a stream bank, largely destroying a productive (if scientifically
minor) site. They teed off the local community, who erected a fence around
the site (subsequently washed away in a flood). Believe me, I share your
frustration (I'm a type 3a ^:) ), especially when I take my son to a
"public" site, only to learn that it has been closed or sealed off, or even
destroyed, by abuse.

Eric
--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
Eric, Diane, Alex and Caroline Winter
The Paleo Four
Alex is the youngest known fossil collector in the world. First specimen
discovered at age 10 months.