The Cochise County Rock

Monthly Newsletter of the Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club

www.cochisecountyrock.org

“Finding and Grinding Rocks in Cochise County, Arizona since 1967”

February 2010

This issue edited by Don Hammer

_______________________________________________________________

The next General Meeting of the Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club is on Monday February 8 at 7 pm at the Sunsites Community Center. Our program will be Mike Roegner a Club member from Bonham, Texas with a presentation on making stone tools. We will resume the best specimen contest so bring your best geode to the February meeting.

January 11 General Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order by Paul McKnight at 7:00 p.m.

New members were introduced: Thomas and Lynette Rice.

Minutes of the last meeting were approved with no changes.

The treasurer’s report by Walter Sigel was approved with no discussion. All were in favor. The audit committee of Paul McKnight, Henri Van den Bos and Walter Sigel found no discrepancies after the audit of the books.

The budget for 2010 was given by Walter Sigel. The expense was $970.00, the income was $1120.00 and the profit was $150.00. Henri had a question concerning the membership in the RMFMS and the answer was we need the insurance for the club. Motion was made and seconded to accept the Budget. All were in favor.

The Field trip for January 23rd was discussed by Henri. It will be at Mexican Hat to collect jasper and we will meet at 9 a.m. at the Old Pearce Store. Need to have a high clearance vehicle. If it rains the trip will be canceled.

No specimens from the last field trip were brought so no awards were given.

General Announcements: Diane Dunn brought rocks to be identified. She made a suggestion that others could do the same in the future.

The raffle was conducted by Henri and fun was had by all.

The program was a presentation with a slide show from Rosemont Copper and the speaker was Jeff Cormoyer. He spoke about the new environmental methods of mining copper. Their operation is near Green Valley. He was very informative and interesting. Meeting closed at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted :

Glen Wirshing, Delegate at Large

February Field Trip

On Saturday February 20 we will go to Rosemont Copper’s proposed copper mine in the Santa Rita mountains southeast of Tucson. We will have a three-hour tour of the site in 10 passenger vans and parking could be limited so car pooling is definitely in order. We have a group limit of 20 so if you’d like to go call Henri ASAP. Henri is still working on the details and hopes to have them finalized by the time of the meeting. I will email the details as we get them. Plan to bring buckets or bags, drinking water, lawn chairs, lunch and sun protection. If we have rain the trip may be postponed or canceled so check your email and the Web site and/or call Paul or Henri. Update: Meet at 8:15 at exit 281 from I-10 immediately south of the exit on the right (west) side of highway 83, where there is a small monument with a parking area. Do your rest stop stuff at Gas City on the way as there are no facilities on highway 83. At 8:30 we will caravan 10 miles south to Hidden Valley Road and then west 1.2 miles to Hidden Valley Ranch where there is parking for those who have low clearance vehicles and want to ride in the company van. Jeff Cornoyer, Rosemont's head geologist, will meet us there.)

Lapidary and Silversmith Classes

We are ready to resume our various classes. Call Larry Strout at 826-3991 if you would like to attend lapidary or wire wrapping. Larry is also teaching silver soldering, a prerequisite to silver smithing. Keith McRobert will resume teaching silver smithing. Call Don Hammer at 384-3105. Join the fun of lapidary, silversmith, and wire wrapping.

Dues

Dues are due. The Board proposed and the members approved an increase to $15 for individuals and $25 for a family. Bring your dues to the next meeting or mail your check to Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club, PO Box 87, Pearce, Arizona 85625.

Club Calendar:

February

8 General Meeting

20 Field Trip

25 Board Meeting

March

8 General Meeting

13 Field Trip

April

1 Board Meeting

12 General Meeting

17 Field Trip

29 Board Meeting

May

10 General Meeting

15 Field Trip

27 Board Meeting

June

5 Club Picnic

Upcoming Regional Events

January 21-February 15

Tucson Show. www.jewelryshowguide.com

January 30-February 14 Electric Park Gem & Mineral Show. This one has a bit of everything, easy access and not too crowded.

March 11-14 - 45^th Annual Deming Roundup. 9-5 daily. Market, Displays and Demonstrations, Guided Field Trips and Auctions. Free parking and admission. Contact Jerry or Carolyn Abbey 575-543-8915.

April 9th–11th, Treasures of the Earth Gem & Mineral Show Albuquerque, NM. Fri & Sat 10-6, Sun. 10-5. Admission $3.00, except Friday is dollar day! All kids under age 13 are free. Over 40 dealers selling, crystals, faceted stones, cabs, rough, beads, jewelry, books, mineral specimens & Lapidary. Creative Arts Center @ the NM State Fair Grounds. San Pedro entrance, north of Central and South of Lomas. Contact: Paul Hlava (505) 255-5478.

Legislative Action Affecting Rockhounds

by John Martin, AFMS Conservation & Legislation Chair; AFMS December 2009

The Wilderness Act of 1964 originally consisted of 9.1 million acres of national forest wilderness areas. As of 2004, the Wilderness System comprises over 107 million acres involving federal lands administered by four agencies: the National Park Service (43,616,250 acres), U.S. Forest Service (34,867,591 acres), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (20,699,108 acres), and Bureau of Land Management (6,512,227 acres) for a total of : 107,436,608 acres. Using these figures as a reference, I think we can safely assume the areas set aside for The National Landscape Conservation System will grow accordingly and the Palentological Resources Preservation Act will be substantially expanded over the coming years. The environmentalists are also working diligently at having states and large private land owners convert their properties into wilderness areas similar to the ones owned by the U.S. government. The environmentalists are well organized and financed, which in many cases allows them to exert considerable pressure on land owners. This is going to further limit many areas that can be used for recreational purposes.

With the current political climate in Washington today the environmental activists are having a field day with our congress members trying to persuade them to introduce new wilderness legislation, and it is working. Here are just a few of the attempts that are currently taking place across our great country.

California – Senator Diane Feinstein is introducing the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act which if enacted will restrict usage of almost 2 million acres of California’s Public Desert Land with the creation of 2 new national monuments, 7 new wilderness areas, and the expansion of Death Valley National Park. Two million acres is almost the size of the state of Connecticut! Can you imagine restricting the state of Connecticut to no roads, no rock fossil, sea shell or mineral collecting? That is what is being attempted for California.

Colorado - We’ve been told that a well financed pro-environmental wilderness bill is coming to Colorado. Called the “Hidden Gems Wilderness.” this will encompass 600,000 acres and close them to all. The environmentalists are pressuring Congressman Jared Polis to introduce the bill. Please have your members contact Congressman Polis and express your concern. The money to get this bill passed is from big foundation money from Washington, DC. Don’t let outsiders come in and lock up Colorado’s public land.

Montana - A huge wilderness bill is coming to Montana disguised as a Forest Job and Recreation Act. It seems that its true motive is to put Montana land into Wilderness. Jon Tester, Senator from Montana is being urged by the pro- environmentalists to sponsor this bill. The proposed amount of land in this proposal is 677,000 acres. You might want to alert the clubs in Montana and research this information. Contact Senator Tester’s office locally and ask about the proposed bill. They will try and tell you it’s about forests and jobs -- NOT SO! According to Brian Hawthorne, Blue Ribbon Coalition, the bill is strong on wilderness, but doesn’t add any new recreation areas. This has a lot to do with forest management and timber logging, but what is already in place, if put into use would take care of the problems, according to former Forest Service Planner, Fred Hodgeboom and now president of Montanan’s for Multiple Use organization. As the new bill is written it creates area for new environmental lawsuits to stop logging on land that has been left susceptible to forest fires, disease and insect devastation. Most of the lands are on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. This bill eliminates a lot of existing recreational opportunities.

Oregon – House Bill 3609 Oregon Marine Reserves. “Marine Reserve” is an area within Oregon’s Territorial Sea or adjacent rocky intertidal area that is protected from all extractive activities, including the removal or disturbance of living and non-living marine resources, except as necessary for monitoring or research to evaluate reserve condition, effectiveness, or impact of stressors. This bill will create reserves all along the public coast of Oregon where it will be unlawful to collect, pick, cut, mutilate or remove living or non-living natural products or dig up or remove any soil, rock, or fossil materials from the ocean shore. “Natural product” means living or non-living natural products on the ocean shore, including marine plants, minerals, shells, rocks, and sand. The Oregon Coastline is famous as a heavy hunting ground for Agates, Jaspers, Fossils and Pyrite Cubes. The proposed Marine Reserve will eliminate rock hunting that Oregonians have historically done for over a century along the Rocky Shores of Oregon’s Coast.

Utah - America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act S. 799 & HR 1925. The America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009 will designate as wilderness certain Federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in the State of Utah. This bill, if enacted, would designate 9.4 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah as Wilderness. The areas considered for closure are:

Great Basin Areas ~ 2,240,827 acres

Zion/Mojave Desert Areas ~ 160,000 acres

Grand Staircase-Escalante Areas~1,771,717 acres

Moab-LaSal Canyons Areas ~ 256,815 acres

Henry Mountains Areas ~ 444,204 acres

Glen Canyon Areas ~ 906,446 acres

San Juan-Anasazi Areas ~ 520,606 acres

Canyonlands Basin Areas ~ 689,884 acres

San Rafael Swell Areas ~ 1,098,773 acres

Book Cliffs/Uinta Basin Areas ~ 1,015,821 acres

There is no question that our access to rockhounding sites would be severely curtailed, if not totally destroyed, by these bills. Sec. 209 withdraws entry and disposition of minerals, so we can’t pick up anything anyway.

On the national front the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009, (S.787) , will treat, as `waters of the United States’, those features that were treated as such pursuant to the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers in existence before the dates of the decisions referred to in paragraph, including--

(A) All waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;

(B) All interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;

(C) all other waters, such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds;

(D) All impoundments of waters of the United States;

(E) Tributaries of the aforementioned waters;

(F) The territorial seas; and

(G) Wetlands adjacent to the aforementioned waters;

What this basically means that if enacted will put all ponds, streams, seasonal mud holes on public and private land under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and not the private property owner. Also of interest to Rockhounds is the ‘Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009’, (H. R. 699) which

was introduced to the House of Representatives on January 27, 2009. This Bill will modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain lands, consistent with the principles of self-initiation of mining claims, and for other purposes. It will impose limitation on patents (Claims), require a royalty be paid for the removal of minerals, add or increase hardrock mining claim maintenance fees, effect of payments for use and occupancy of claims. All of these actions may have negative effects on Rock Clubs or Societies which currently hold or may be trying to file claims on BLM, Forest, or other public lands.

What can we as rockhounds do? Use the internet, email, Fax, or the US Postal Service to contact both your state and federal elected officials and let them know what your concerns are regarding the closure and withdrawing of public land from public usage. Support and join organizations like the Blue Ribbon Coalition, <www.shaetrails.org> , American Land Rights Association, <www.landrights.org>, AMERICAN LANDS ACCESS ASSOCIATION (A.L.A.A) <www..amlands.org>. These groups are fighting to keep our Public Lands Open to all Public Users. Please support and use the American Federation of Mineralogical Society and your Regional Federation of Mineralogical Societies, they have information and resources that can help in all aspects of rockhounding.

Club Officers for 2010

President: Paul McKnight 520-824-4054

V.President: Jack Light 520 824-4774

Secretary: Jim Brower 520 826-4672

Treasurer: Walter Sigel 520-826-1009

Delegate at Large: Glen Wirshing520-826-0167

Hospitality Coord: Zoe Schnabel 520-826-0100

Field Trip Coord: Henri VandenBos 384-0288

Past President: Don Hammer 520 384-3105