Re: Plant mapping is "wrong" (long article)
Wayne Forrester (forrestr@mendel.Berkeley.EDU)
Thu, 5 Dec 1996 09:41:53 -0800 (PST)
I feel compelled to contribut my two cents worth to the
discussion of whether or not to provide detailed information on plant
locations. As far as I'm concerned, the only really significant issue is
what is in the best interest of the plants. Unfortunately, the answer to
this is that revealing the precise location is almost never going to be
in the best interest of the plants. True, sites that are being developed
will be lost anyway, and collecting of plants cannot be harmful in such
cases. However, sites not scheduled for destruction are best not
disclosed. Although almost everyone who has access to such information
will behave responsibly, and at most would likely just visit sites, it
only takes a single individual to destroy a single, or many, locales. I
really feel it would be irresponsible and unforgivable to provide
extensive, detailed locations of stands of CP outside of protected, and
policed areas.
Wayne Forrester
forrestr@mendel.berkeley.edu