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#1
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[IBC] Bonsai Journal - Summer (Mostly a RANT)
Nice Potentilla article in the summer ABS Bonsai Journal, but as
for the bulk of the issue, I think we need to re-name ABS to American Bonsai Collector's Society (ABC). One of the collecting articles includes a telling paragraph (near the end) about post-war Japanese collectors in the American west: " . . . . some areas are totally cleaned out, and one can find an area where there should be trees but the pockets are empty. . . .." I have seen the effects of over collecting in other rocky areas -- including protected areas -- out west and in the North Carolina mountains. Trees simply do NOT grow back in these environmentally stressed areas, but collectors don't give a damn. It is, I think, a terrible indictment of bonsai collectors, and ABS is promoting collecting in these wild areas more and more -- to the point where they're raffling off trips with collectors at their meeting this year -- the rape, pillage, and plunder raffle. :-( Oh well, nothing _I_ can do about it but rant. As far as the rest of the issue goes, I truly enjoyed the article and pictures about the Pacific Rim's "Artful Environments" exhibit and wish others would do the same. Otherwise, there were the usual plethora of typos and typesetting mistakes, and a final picture that is NOT an alligator juniper, but is a repeat of the previous pic (but larger) of a plant that was never mentioned in the article. Sigh . . . Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - who did not renew his ABS membership this year, but who keeps getting the magazine so probably shouldn't knock a freebie????? ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page ++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#3
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[IBC] Bonsai Journal - Summer (Mostly a RANT)
As one of the "collect with collectors" authors for this issue, and an ABS
member, I feel I should respond a bit. My article on collecting wild hackberrys and winged elms in Tulsa , Ok. with Pat Coen/Mikle Finnigan was from personal experience this earely spring. They found ( observed) these trees growing on a farmers cattle range and approached him about collecting. He was glad to get rid of them and they enjoy a great relationship with him which includes gifts of tasty food items as thanks. The holes are immediately filled upon collecting. At the speed which they can be collected they will be there MMMAANNNYYY years just collecting off one tiny area of this ranchers personal property. As for collecting with Jim Doyle, the collecting is done on HIS OWN PROPERTY at his nursery! from stock amongst overgrown old fields. I guess I don't need to defend that any more! I can't speak for the others collectors arrangements. If this raffle works out well I thought of joining in the next time with a collecting trip locally for Taxus from one of my favorite sites. I simply pay the land owner to hand dig some of his trees. As with most rants....this one wasn't thought out well. ( believe me....I recognize one not thought out well! :) The comment about "cleaned out areas" was a bit out of context with the rest of the statement. What "was" is past,..... what is "now" is important. Regards, Dale Cochoy Wild Things Bonsai Studio Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery ABS Board of Directors ..----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Lewis" Subject: [IBC] Bonsai Journal - Summer (Mostly a RANT) Nice Potentilla article in the summer ABS Bonsai Journal, but as for the bulk of the issue, I think we need to re-name ABS to American Bonsai Collector's Society (ABC). One of the collecting articles includes a telling paragraph (near the end) about post-war Japanese collectors in the American west: " . . . . some areas are totally cleaned out, and one can find an area where there should be trees but the pockets are empty. . . ." I have seen the effects of over collecting in other rocky areas -- including protected areas -- out west and in the North Carolina mountains. Trees simply do NOT grow back in these environmentally stressed areas, but collectors don't give a damn. It is, I think, a terrible indictment of bonsai collectors, and ABS is promoting collecting in these wild areas more and more -- to the point where they're raffling off trips with collectors at their meeting this year -- the rape, pillage, and plunder raffle. :-( Oh well, nothing _I_ can do about it but rant. Sigh . . . Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - who did not renew his ABS membership this year, but who keeps getting the magazine so probably shouldn't knock a freebie????? ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page ++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#4
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[IBC] Bonsai Journal - Summer (Mostly a RANT)
As one of the "collect with collectors" authors for this issue,
and an ABS member, I feel I should respond a bit. My article on collecting wild hackberrys and winged elms in Tulsa , Ok. with Pat Coen/Mikle Finnigan was from personal experience this earely spring. They found ( observed) these trees growing on a farmers cattle range and approached him about collecting. He was glad to get rid of them and they enjoy a great relationship with him which includes gifts of tasty food items as thanks. The holes are immediately filled upon collecting. At the speed which they can be collected they will be there MMMAANNNYYY years just collecting off one tiny area of this ranchers personal property. As for collecting with Jim Doyle, the collecting is done on HIS OWN PROPERTY at his nursery! from stock amongst overgrown old fields. I guess I don't need to defend that any more! I was gonna leave my rant to speak for itself, but . . . If you recall MY collecting article some months ago (Winter 2000), I am NOT against collecting trees from suitable locations -- and hackberry and winged elm grow almost exclusively in those locations, they are little more than weeds and reproduce quickly and easily. As you note, they survive even after hefty grazing by livestock. Nor, Dale, did I even reference your article or Jim Doyle's. I collect from MY property, too. I do NOT collect from environmentall sensitive property -- as virtually all of the rocky, western collecting sites with the aged, rugged, and weatherbeaten trees are. So, I DO have a major problem with people who collect in the arid west, where those cleaned out areas are STILL cleaned out ater the pasage of more than 50 years, and still will be empty after another 100 have passed. Desert lands are unforgiving. I can't speak for the others collectors arrangements. If this raffle works out well I thought of joining in the next time with a collecting trip locally for Taxus from one of my favorite sites. I simply pay the land owner to hand dig some of his trees. As with most rants....this one wasn't thought out well. ( believe me....I recognize one not thought out well! :) I have been thinking about this RANT since the spring issue of ABS and -- as you know, Dale, this is NOT a new position for me. After my article on the Ethics of Collecting appeared in the ABS Journal a few winters ago, I got e-mails from 4 western collectors who said they collect when and where and what they want to collect. Period -- that government land (includiing protected land) was THEIR land and EFFF the regulations . . . . I got other emails (still from the west) which would not want to be repeated on a family Listserv. The comment about "cleaned out areas" was a bit out of context with the rest of the statement. What "was" is past,..... what is "now" is important. Uh uh. The "now" is still now. In the last 25 years I have been to two areas in the southern N.C. moutains (one a park, the other Forest Service recreation area -- both protected) and have seen recently emptied potholes in bare knobs (not even replaced soil -- in once case it lay scattered around the empty holes, and there was a crumpled beer can (Milwaukee's Best!) in one of them). These were in places where _I_ would be terrified to climb out to, tho I have such a terrible fear of heights, that that's not saying much. These, coupled with the bragging taunts that I received after my article, coupled with the near total lack of any warnings about getting permission or permits in these recent articles, and a series of collecting articles in another of the bonsai magazines _several_ years ago where the authors bragged about how many trees they'd collected on a several-day-trip in the Rockies (I ranted about those, too), as well as some complaints that I received from folks out west about the raffle are sufficient indication to me that little has changed. I saw old colleted sites in New Mexico in the late 90s. These prompted my article about the little J. monosperma and my fictional philosophical maunderings about whether to collect it or not. I'll close my rants on this subject with the plea (as I closed my article): "Some say that every story should end with a moral. This one ends with a plea for collectes of bonsai: That they themeslves be moral. Collect, by all means, but before you collect, think about it -- and if you can see any reason that a given tree might better be left where it is, then leave it." (ABS Journal, Winter 2000) Nuff Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - "We smile at the ignorance of the savage who cuts down the tree in order to reach its fruit; but the same blunder is made by every person who is over eager and impatient in the pursuit of pleasure." - William Channing ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page ++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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