I hope your suggestion was at least partially in jest, but suspect it  
was not. Here in Virginia we sponsor the Boy Scout Jamboree every few  
years at Ft AP Hill. One of the merit badges offered is in  
Archaeology (with assistance from the Archeological Soc of Virginia).  
Rather than limiting the access of the Boy Scouts to public land, a  
better idea would be for more archaeologists to train scouts. Troops  
are pretty responsive to meaningful programs.

On Apr 24, 2006, at 18:25, Tim Thompson wrote:

> I think Lyle and Joe have made good points on this issue. They  
> point out that there are artifact collectors and there are looters.  
> In my experience there is a third group (possibly the largest  
> group) that overlaps the two. People who don't necessarily make a  
> living with their collecting (or common pay bail with it), or  
> necessarily even sell artifacts, but will readily trespass and  
> damage sites as a "hobby" and who are usually unresponsive to  
> reasonable discourse from the archaeological community. Since the  
> archaeologcal community through their professional organizations  
> pays for lobbying on capital hill, maybe we could suggest to SAA  
> that they form an 'intervention' team to go out and 'deprogram'  
> these people. A lot of them get started in the Boy Scouts, so we  
> could lobby to limit the acces to public land by this group. The  
> idea of going out and missionizing them is nice for the  
> independently wealthy, but my professional duties and personal life  
> do not leave me time for what, in my experience, is largely a waste  
> of time.
>
> But those who do have time, by all means should go ahead and do it,  
> and report back to the rest of us on success and failure so that we  
> can become more successful withmore  limited efforts in this area.  
> Tight lines!
>
> Tim T.
>
>
>
> Date:    Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:45:12 -0400
> From:    Joe Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Individual rights and relic hunting: Thorny issues