Subject: Re: 4th of July & Collecting

From: "Richard B. Cech" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 13:05:12 EST

Carol Witham writes:

>Now that the annual 4th of July count is being run by the NABA, how many
>butterfly collectors are contributing time, data and money to this
>anti-collecting organization?

I would like to inject a a note of fact into this discussion.  NABA does indeed
have
a policy concerning collecting, though not a policy against collecting.  It was
announced in Volume 1:1 of American Butterflies and reads as follows:

"Because a number of people have asked...the [NABA] board voted to adopt
the following policy statement:  Collecting butterflies is not included among
the purposes of NABA but NABA is not in opposition to other groups for which
this may be a legitimate purpose."

NABA has not become involved in trying to define a proper scope for collecting
because, simply enough, there are a lot of other places where NABA is interested

in investing its time.

It is true that NABA has chosen to emphasize non-consumptive activities in
relation
to butterflies, and that is a choice.  Deciding not to adopt a position againt
collecting
is also a choice.  It reflects NABA's appreciation of the complexities of the
issues
involved, the legitimate needs of science and the strongly held atitudes of
individuals
both within and outside the Association on this topic.

As I said in a recent newsletter (in a carefully mixed metaphor), there are no
bright lines
to be drawn in the sand here.  The questions under discussion are significant
and
interesting.  I personally know many individual on both sides of the debate who
are thinking
hard about how to get to a supportible middle ground, and a number of the
postings to
LEPS-L have likewise shown some serious effort to grapple with the issues.

What is the right answer?  In my view, both sides need to do some reflecting.
Those
who do not endorse collecting (including dogged opponents as well as those, like
myself,
who simply have no interest in collecting) must respect the diversity of opinion
that exists
on the issue, the legitimate need for specimen taking in scientific endeavors
(though I
think the argument that specimens must routinely be taken for field I.D. is
often overblown),
and, not insignificantly,  the deep attachment felt by many to the practice of
collecting,
based on long involvement.

Likewise, I think many of the advocates of collecting who have been posting here
need
to take a few deep breaths and get some perspective.  However ardently one may
feel about
one's prerogatives viz a viz collecting, broadside attacks on the few pieces of
working environ-
mental legislation that exist in the US, however much adaptation they may need
for
invertebrates, etc.does little more than play into the hands of environmental
opponents
who, if they have their way, will create a situation in which NOBODY has any
butterflies to
squabble about.

Does collecting damage isolated butterfly populations?  i am quite sure that
nobody really
knows at this point, and I am not sure we ever will, to an adequate level of
scientific certainty.
Sure, we have to step back and look at the prodigious reproductive rates of
invertebrates,
but we also have to think of George's Banks, where in little more than a
generation
piecemeal trawling has exhausted what had generally been considered an
inexhaustible
food resource (vertebrates, true, but prodigious reproducers nonetheless, and
far more
numerous to start with than our rarer butterfly species).   We have to think of
what the effect
of persistent collecting might be at the level of local populations (lots more
people are now
interested in butterflies than used to be).  By respecting the profound
incompleteness of our
knowledge on these questions, maybe we can agree on how to work together, be a
little
bit careful, and learn to get on better.

Personally, I am busy photographing butterflies, learning about them from field
observations
and the observations of others and generally enjoying the process very much.  I
have been
working to get others to participate in pooling field notes on particular
species during
particular years from around the continent, attempting to see patterns that can
increase our
insight into butterfly lives.  Does anyone object to this activity?  Should
collectors regard it as
threatening and boycott or oppose it?  I would hope the answer to both questions
is no.  This
kind of information can be useful to everybody, just as specimens are useful for
research
and critical ID verification.

Sorry this has run on so long.  But I think the fences that have been growing in
this debate are
for the most part artificial and unnecessary.

P.S.  The views here are strictly my own, and except for the policy statement
itself are not in
any way officially authorized by the NABA board..

Rick Cech