[meteorite-list] Oregon / Washington Meteorite hunting regulations on BLM Land

[wahlperry at aol.com]

Hi list,

Sorry for the possible double post. Here is their reply from the BLM in 
Oregon regarding meteorite hunting.


Thanks,
Sonny



>Sonny:  It is the Washington Office Policy that meteorites belong to 
the
>Federal government, the policy statement on the BLM Oregon/Washington
>website is taken from the Washington Office, this is partly based on 
Old
>Woman Meteorite case (under the Antiquities Act) you mentioned and I 
have
>attached.  In practise, there is no official guidance for us on how to
>manage meteorites nor has this been put into the Code of Federal
>Regulations and I'm not aware of any enforcement action being taken 
against
>collectors on public lands.  I'm wondering if this policy was written 
more
>for a significant meteorite find such as the Old Woman case, and would 
give
>Federal government ability to assert ownership if it decided to, if the
>meteorite had considerable scientific value?  Sorry, this isn't very 
clear
>cut.  Steve