Michigan recently revised its regulations on metal detecting on state owned lands. There are a great many issues with the new policy that need to be addressed.
TALKING
POINTS
It
was implied to several people that when the policy-making session would take
place, we would be informed so the detecting community could be represented.
Well, that meeting took place and nobody was informed. As a result, the
detectorists side of the issue was simply ignored. As far as we know, the new regulations were railroaded through without any input from the
public.
Did
you know that information about archaeological sites is protected from the
"Freedom of Information Act.
In
the old policy, written in 1980, it read, "The use of metal detectors shall
be allowed on state-owned lands administered by the department except...."
and it went on to list places like historic sites, etc. The new policy reads
"The use of metal detectors shall not be permitted with the
exception"....and goes on to list, "places improved for public access,
such as campgrounds, beaches, picnic areas." This smells very much like the
famous "Closed Unless Posted Open" policy that the federal government
loves so much. What it actually does is to restrict the area open to detecting
to almost nothing. Look at it at this way. . . . .Think of the top surface of a
large family dinner table as representing the total amount of Michigan tax-payer
owned land. With the old policy, this large tabletop represented almost the
entire area where you could hunt with a metal detector. Now, let’s look at
that tabletop again in light of the new policy. Lay a dime on the table, that
dime represents the area where you and I can now detect on "Public"
land! A big difference! (Your State May Be Next!)
Does
all of the rest of this areas contain items of historical or archeological
significance? Probably not, but the state archeologist wants to make sure
nothing is disturbed so everything remains off limits. Do they plan to do some
test digs to find out if these areas could be opened up to the detectorist . . .
NO is the answer. The Allegan DNR office answered this same question like this,
"They might, and it could be next year or it could be 100 years from now,
it's none of your damn business!" So dear taxpayer it is none of your damn
business!
The
Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979 states: "Nothing in
this Act applies to, or requires a permit for, the collection for private
purposes of any rock, coin, bullet, or
mineral."
The new Michigan regulation contains such masterful laws as:
"All
recovered items must be checked by a park employee before being removed from the
park." Now as I understand it; if I’m hunting on a swimming beach
(supposedly perfectly legal) and I am lucky enough to find a 1986 penny, I have
to run down the guy who is mowing the weeds a quarter mile away and have him OK
my penny before I can leave (it could be an archaeological treasure). Who is
qualified to judge the significance of an archaeological artifact?
"Any
items the park has recorded lost and that can be returned to the rightful owner
will be turned in to the park, or the park will notify the owner of the name and
address of the finder."
All
right, I admit this sounds pretty laughable. However, the new policy certainly
isn’t funny at all. While we believe in protecting true archaeological
resources, a square nail or a horseshoe isn’t something that should be held in
reverence by the archaeological community. No one even knows how many million of
them were made and if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
Something
must be done to persuade the Powers-That-Be that we aren’t going to stand for
something as self-serving as this new policy. We’re the people who are going
to cause that change and here is how we’re going to do it. First, every
detectorist and every other hobbyist has to take a stand. The way we can make
our voices heard is to shout in unison and demand that this discriminatory set
of rules should be trashed. Numbers are the only way we can win this thing.
Phone
calls are the way to get someone’s attention. We ask that every one of you
make a minimum of one and hopefully a lot of calls to:
Director of State Parks & Lands.
Harold Herta
Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 30028
Lansing MI 48909
Herta's Phone number is: 517) 373 2329 (517)
335-5695
Herta's e-mail: HertaH@michigan.gov
The
plan is for Mr. Herta to spend a full day (or more if we can) on the phone
talking to detectorists and doing nothing else. To be perfectly honest about it,
we’d like to see his phone line so clogged with calls that he can’t perform
his duties (whatever they may be.) Let him know how many of us really care. Most
of us own cell phones so that means that even long distance calls are free.
Don’t be bashful about making a lot of them. Letters are called for also. His
e-mail address is listed but we suggest that unless there is absolutely no way
you can call or write, don’t send e-mail. It is too simple to hit the
"Delete" button and never read the message. However, if that is your
only method possible, feel free to send it via the ‘net. It’s better than
nothing.
The
second step in this project is to contact the people interested in the tourism
dollars coming into Michigan. Now here we have to be extremely careful what we
say. Please use a lot of tact. Also while calls and letters are preferred,
e-mail will also work since we don’t want to alienate these people and we sure
don’t want to clog up their phone lines. They can work for us if we play it
right. Contact the following and let them know that if the restrictive detecting
policy isn’t changed, you shall change your plans to visit Michigan. If enough
people send this info, these agencies will help us. They are:
Michigan
Economic Development Corporation
Travel
Michigan
300
N. Washington Square, 2nd. Floor
Lansing,
MI. 48913
For
the second agency we have:
Enjoy
Michigan
Mr.
Warren V. Watt
phone
(989) 781-2422
fax
(208) 977-6949
e-mail
mi@enjoymichigan.com
The dates for this are as follows:
Starts--Tuesday July 23; again--Wednesday July 31 and again--Thursday Aug. 8
The reason for these dates is to give everyone the opportunity to contact all concern here and to also assure if one or more is out on vacation, then we will surely catch them at one of these three dates.
I
cannot stress strongly enough that we must be civil with these people. We need
them to fight for us. Here is a sample of an e-mail message that I sent to Enjoy
Michigan earlier.
I
am a retired person who enjoys metal detecting and my wife and I had planned to
visit your fair state sometime later this summer. We had planned to spend
several weeks during which time we would spend a considerable amount of money
for lodging, restaurants, gasoline, etc.
I
have heard that there is a new regulation that severely restricts metal
detecting on state owned lands. Be forewarned, if this is true, I shall take my
tourist dollars to a state that doesn’t discriminate against a harmless hobby.
The
agency replied that they hadn’t heard of such a policy change, but would check
it out and respond to me.
I
might suggest that aligned organizations send messages telling of your
particular hobby or interest and then stating that since Michigan is penalizing
detectorists with the new regs., you won’t spend your tourist money there.
(Thus far, these aligned groups are supporting our hobby in this effort: People
for the USA, Blue Ribbon Coalition, Public Lands for the People, American
Motorcycle Assn., American Lands Access Assn., many Gem and Mineral Societies
and off-road groups).
The
last item is for the Michigan residents to contact their state congress critters
and tell them how unhappy you are with the present situation. If you can
persuade enough of them, they have the ability to make good things happen. Michigan
residents can locate the name, address, phone, and E-mail of their particular
state reps and senators by clicking on each of the following links and then
following the instructions there. The sites are pretty easy to navigate.
http://www.house.state.mi.us/LocateRep.html
http://www.senate.state.mi.us/SenatorInfo/find-your-senator.htm
In closing, I must stress that everyone must
use tact and good manners when making the calls or writing the letters. If one
person cusses someone out or even uses improper language in a message, the whole
program could be blown. We could end up in worse shape than we are in now. Treat
everyone civilly and we can make it happen.
For more details and suggestions on this RALLY, then go to www.fmdac.com/larry/