Re: plant smuggling solution

Doug Bosco (bosco@interaccess.com)
Tue, 18 Apr 1995 22:15:57 -0500

Cliff wrote :
>>Unregulated collection in the past may have done damage, however the real
>>threat is habitat destruction,...
>
>Dream on. Unregulated collecting is still going on (for orchids, cacti,
>CP's, animals of all kinds, in short, anything that brings in a lot of
>cash). Habitat destruction is for many collectors their way of sweettalking
>their actions.
>The trouble is the mentality. Many an amateur will prefer a wild plant,

I do some volunteer work in a local prairie, helping to restore it to
something resembling a natural prairie ecosystem.

The problem is spreading to prairie plants also. Either the thief will steal
the plant for their garden or they will steal it to add it to a flower
arrangement. I'm beginning to think that there will be little left in a few
years. Even if we can save a few hectares of park land, people will in one
way or another encroach upon it and disrupt it, taking what they think is
pretty or running over it if they just don't give a damn.

Doug Bosco bosco@interaccess.com