Got this email complaining about dig sites and the club, he said he wanted to see the responses; Tours???? Ive been behind where this group has been. Respect what we have. Slowly but surley places are closing for the damage done. I have stomped these hills my whole life and havent give any secrets. Look at the ginseng....gone. Think of black mountain kyanite raped!!! Folks dont want you there. Penland point gone nomore due to robbing and taking everything. Corrundum hill cant even get close. Why? Its not because everyone is respecting what the good Lord have given us all. Buck creek next on list raped Chunky Gal is a snake project there slowly but surely its all deteorating not from the beauty of stones. Outdated, false info books are GREED!!! No other way of looking at it. Slowly but the resources are depleting. Ask yourself why? Beem here my whole life pulled sang stopped now because the heritage is lost and the plant is almost gone Murder of another species. I dont want that on me. Slowly but surely its hands and pans. EVERYWHERE!! Weve lived off the land my whole life. I have pulled stones my whole life. I still got em all. Do it for beauty not to profit. A lot of places has been shut off from rockhounding. Why when you show up in truck loads vans etc. take everything possible leave trash and disrespect the land and people you are killing a heeritage for the true ones who have been here forever. Not inprinted here. It just kills me to see whats happened to these hills. Ive worked teal close to the nantahala ranger district when in highlands and in Franklin All I get back is bad news....Its coming closure to digging period. I harvest laurel in the amount if transfer truck loads. I pay for every stick improve roads pick up trash and save the forests from being burnt down for the reason of control of forest fires oil in the leaves of laurel. Just keep it clean rockhounding dont consist of multitudes of people depleting a natural resource for us all. Not just a club that goes in and rapes the land and resources. I have 5 kids I have handed my heritage black cohash ginseng stinging nettles stones laurel locust in a respectful manner as all should do. It may not hurt you but what about future generations? My heritage I have passed down. Was it a waste of my time? Print this in your magazine and lets see the responces. Thank you gir letting me share its just wrong.!!! Here is my response, Tours, I have not ran tours since 2004, and only did a handful of trips before that. Been behind this club leaving trash and raping sites, BS. This is the ONLY club I know of that has members stay behind after a dig to police a site for trash. I have had my members in the past go to sites and cleanup after other clubs. Yes, my old book is outdated, and I have not sold it in three years. Complain about the club coming in truckloads to dig at a site? Ever been to a DMC dig, I have, 200-300 people descending on a site like locust, almost got run over by an over anxious hound at a Glendon trip back in 2005 trying to rush to beat everyone else into the mine, back when it was open to everyone at every dig. You complain when a group of MAGMA members show up, we have had very few trips that turn out the MONSTER numbers of a federation DMC dig, so whos raping the dig sites?? Our club has rules, if you break them, you are gone. I dont have to have a meeting to decide to get rid of someone, if they are hurting rockhounding, they are removed from this club, period. Just ask around and you will see just how many I have kicked out. They are the ones skulking around in the bushes by themselves, claiming it is better that they dont have to share anything with anyone else, GREED? I find it funny that people like to attack a club that has strict rules. Zero tolerance for the ones that break the rules, opens more sites for rockhounds then any other club anywhere, promotes the hobby in every way possible. Welcomes everyone who has an interest in rockhounding to join us, with no stipulations, you dont have to know the secret handshake to dig with us, all are welcome until/if they break the rules. Yet the same people that complain about us, are friends with the criminal element of rockhounding. People who like to post videos of their criminal activity while digging, rerouting creeks and streams, undermining trees, digging out the riverbanks and killing trees as they fall into the river. Digging illegally at numerous sites, trespassing at night with headlamps on private property. Videotaping themselves digging entire rock outcrops out for kyanite claiming that they are on private property, knowing full well that they are on Forest Service property. Then they post this crap on youtube for the world to see. And YOU wonder why sites are getting closed? Take a look around you, at the people you associate with. The criminals are few and far between, but the damage they are causing is going to kill this hobby for all of us. You can attack me and my club all you want, but you are attacking the wrong people. The people who are really hurting this hobby are going to be exposed, arrested and charged. It is already happening, and I am going to make sure that all the people that blame our group for sites getting shut down, know the truth about these people. If someone gets nailed and they are a MAGMA member, then I will do as I said above, kick them out, zero tolerance. I educate my members about the rules and etiquette of rockhounding, maybe others should do the same for themselves and their friends!!!
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 14:23:19 +0000
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