As long as people are free to walk alone in the woods, there will
be plant collecting...
Collecting does not always have a terrible impact on plant populations.
In fact, collecting of seeds and cuttings--just enough to bring a plant
into cultivation--probably has less impact than simply walking among
the population; crushing seedlings and compacting/altering the soil.
Low-impact collecting may not be detrimental to plant populations, but if
EVERYONE did it... the habitat would be trampled to death, and more
plant material would depart under foot than in hand :-0
The fact that collecting may have low impact does not justify collecting
against the law (see supporting arguments below).
The laws and regulations concerning rare plants and protected habitats
may not always seem in the best interest of thier continued survival.
Nonetheless, collecting is not a proper way to protest or change these
laws, be they truely detrimental or not.
The laws and regulations concerning the collection of common plants are too
frequently a mystery, and seem to be rarely enforced (for good or ill).
Low impact collecting of seed/cuttings from a minimal number of common
(not federally or state listed) plants seems a moral and legal gray
area... It is easier to get a permit to collect deer than to collect
deer fodder--really! :-)
Don't even think about collecting a scrap of anything from a
foreign country, unless you have official permission from an offical
agency in that country. Even that may not protect you from trouble :-)
Conservation potential does not justify illegal collecting. Leave
conservation programs to genuine conservation organizations. They can get
the proper paperwork to collect. If you wish to work for conservation,
work with these organizations. Don't practice "vigilantee conservation".
Commercial propagation and hobby cultivation of plants does not consititute
conservation. Conservation programs aim to preserve gene pools as they
exist in nature, and have an ultimate goal of reintroduction of plants into
a sustainable natural environment. Plants in cultivation may have
conservation value, but unless the plants are cultivated in a manner
consistent with conservation techniques, then this conservation potential
becomes lost, through inbreeding, open pollination, loss of data, artificial
selection of "greenhouse genes", and the quick death of private collections
when the owner grows ill, incapacitated, or looses interest.
Don't lament for Nepenthes species which went extinct before they could
be collected and brought into cultivation. Lament for the Nepenthes which
ARE in cultivation, but still not properly conserved. (Common in cultivation?
but how many females are out there? How many are pure spp., not hybrids?
If plants are growing on private property, and these plants are going to
be destroyed (ie. by construction), you don't have the right to collect
them without permission from the land owner. Similarly, you don't
have the right to take plants from another grower's collection just
because they are killing the plants with bad growing techniques.
Don't collect it, buy it. But don't buy it if you have reason to believe
it was collected by the seller or supplier.
Don't buy it, trade for it, or buy cheap seeds from the seed bank.
In the event of moral quandaries, don't collect. Remember that hobby plants
are just a hobby, not an essential in life, not the salvation of rare species.
(These opinions have been formed by my experience living/working in the USA.
I understand that citizens of other countries may feel differently based on
thier experiences in their country. But please, let us talk about our own
counties before making judgements about how other nations which we don't
live in are "doing things wrong"!)
Michael Chamberland