Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections October 2021 - 7

Society Reports
The committee continues to accumulate resources to highlight
the value of collections for biodiversity research and
education in order to facilitate collections advocacy. These
resources are available on the committee's resource wiki page
at https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Biodiversity_Crisis_Response_and_Conservation_Resources
Respectively
submitted,
Libby Ellwood and Jutta Buschbom, Co-chairs
Bylaws Committee
The Bylaws Committee is responsible
for the continued development of the
Society bylaws, monitoring Society
activities to ensure agreement with the
bylaws, and for periodic updates to
the Leadership Manual of the Society.
Because no items have come before
the Bylaws Committee during the past
year, we did not hold a Bylaws Committee
meeting during the 2021 AIC-SPNHC conference.
Respectively submitted,
Barbara M. Thiers, Chair
Conference Committee
Not reporting.
Julian Carter, Chair
Conservation Committee
Not reporting.
Fran Ritchie and Rebecca Newberry, Co-chairs
Education
Not reporting.
Anna Monfils, Chair
Elections Committee
Not reporting.
Bethany Palumbo, Chair
Emerging Professionals Committee
Not reporting.
Kevin Krajcir and Jessie Nakano, Co-chairs
Legislation and Regulations Committee
Virtual meetings of the Legislation and
Regulations Committee since spring
dealt with the following activities:
Interpretation
During the virtual SPNHC meeting
2021, the L&R Committee discussed
existing difficulties of some US institutions
to acquire or import specimens.
Problems are multilayered and involve
different federal and local authorities
(USFWS, DOT, USDA) as well as different
US laws and their interpretation
by local officers (e.g., USFWS) and/or
staff of carriers, such as FedEx. Challenges
include: rejection of requests for
deposition of material covered by the
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA, enacted on October
21, 1972), and a supposed change of application processes for
applying both for migratory bird and marine mammal permits
through USFWS (yearly permits and per-occurrence permits).
Another concern is the lack of recognition of natural history
museums as bona fide research institutions by the USFWS,
as there seems to be the misunderstanding by USFWS that
believes that museums are not research entities and thus do
not qualify for blanket yearly permits.
In bimonthly L&R working group meetings, joined by
Jyotsna Pandey (AIBS) and John Bates (Field Museum), it
was agreed that more information on the following items is
needed to move forward:
1. Are changes on the official books? If so, is there a comment
period?
2. What is the basis behind these changes?
3. Is it as simple as a misunderstanding of the definitition of
a museum? Does this affect mostly institutions or individual
researchers?
4. Who is behind these changes-a single person or a department?
5.
Can we arrange a meeting to discuss?
October 2021 * 7

https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Biodiversity_Crisis_Response_and_Conservation_Resources https://spnhc.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Biodiversity_Crisis_Response_and_Conservation_Resources https://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-laws/marine-mammal-protection-act.html

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections October 2021