Powerful message, Doug. Would it be possible in Indiana to treat shells
from the commercial midden as cultural objects and arrange to reposit them
with the state archaeological service? Laws often overlap in their
application, and you might be able to take advantage of that. Of course,
you would have to make an arrangement ahead of time with the
archaeologists, and that might be a non-starter.
 
In my personal opinion (not speaking as a civil servant), some businesses
and government agencies pay lip service to the idea of inventorying the
fauna while doing their best to see that it never gets done. They strongly
dislike the idea of discovering another snail darter or other impediment to
development. This is another reason why local clubs, as concerned citizens,
can make a difference by inventorying faunas.
 
Anyway, the natural biota of most areas will never be inventoried by
scientists more than cursorily, because the earth is large, personnel are
few, and development is too rapid. For example, it was already hard to find
an estuary in its natural state in California by 1960, and probably next to
impossible today. But it would be a mistake to give up and say that the
estuaries are dead when they are merely ill. That is an open invitation for
unchecked development, because people say there is nothing to lose. The
estuaries and rivers aren't dead yet, and as Marlo Krisberg pointed out,
the few relatively untouched areas will someday be called on to provide the
seed and stock for other areas that are reclaimed for nature.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg (writing on his break)