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The Incredible Shrinking Lapidary Journal
lapidary in general is fast becoming a lost art! The government has done it's best to close areas where new finds ...
That is why you should support your local rock club.
I belong to the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society where
Rockhounding and Lapidary interests are alive and well. We’ve
increased our membership has increase three fold in the last two
years. We are active in voicing our opinion when the government
wants to step in and close areas to rockhounding. For example, due
to the Hayman fire two years ago, (which was started by a forest
service employee thank you very much), the forest service is
proposing closing many forest service roads in the Hayman burn area
preventing access to some of the best rock and fossil collecting
sites. Our members write letters and show up for public meetings.
CSMS also organizes field trips and even carries liability insurance
for it’s members. Also, CSMS supports responsible rock collecting
which means no trespassing on private property, respecting claims,
reclamation, and generally don’t collect more rocks than you need to.
We also put on one of the best gem and mineral shows that give the
best bang for the buck for vendors and the public alike. I feel one
of the reasons for CSMS’s success is it has satellite groups that
focus on members interests such as lapidary, faceting, fossils,
crystals, micromounting of minerals, photography, and yes even
jewelry!
Check out: http://www.csms.us/ or your local rock club.
Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan and 2005 CSMS Secretary
Colorado Springs, Colorado
http://home.covad.net/~rcopeland/