Michael Persiano wrote:
Well, this topic certainly touches upon several key
points. I suppose such collection would also include
raking the West of California Junipers, which have been
masterfully carved by nature's hands for decades.

Clearly, the laws must be respected for the collection of
specimens. Beyond the laws and with respect to ethical
behavior, when has a particular species been over
collected?

I'm told that at least three species of wild orchid in Sourh
Florida are now extinct because of collecting. Ditto a few
species of bromiliad. I know that several species of the
colorful tree snails that used to live in the Florida keys
are now almost gone, again because of collectors. Several
species of parrot-type birds are becoming very scarce
because of over collecting, and tropical butterflies of many
species have become quite rare for the same reason.

And then, there's the entire ocean fisheries, the passsenger
pigeon, the dodo. . . .

Several southwestern species of cacti are in danger because
of collectors -- strangely enough from people who are
environmentally conscious enough to not want to waste water
on a green lawn in the desert, but who cause the decimation
of the desert environment by collectors who then sell the
cactus to landscape companies.


Has the Itoigawa Juniper become a thing of the past as a
result of over collecting?




I read that professional collectors just about did away with
shimpaku in the Japanese mountains and were THE reason
that the Japanese government began to put severe conditions
on collecting.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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