The following post from Laura Erickson appeared on her blog Sun. (10/23):
"A couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from Cornell inviting me to be on their Ivory-bill search team. What a thrill! But I would have to sign an agreement that all of my photos, videos, sound recordings, and field notes would BELONG 100% to Cornell. They would have to give me special permission for each and every photo and word I put on my blog--even just to highlight the beauty and diversity of the habitat! I can understand why this is the case, and would feel a little better about it if this stuff was going to belong to the Lab of Ornithology, but there's a whole additional layer of bureaucracy with the university. So I've decided to go on my own. I'll be spending most or all of January down there, searching on my own, after consulting with everyone I can find to ensure that I'm not going to cause any possible disruption of any birds that may be present. I'm not expecting to see an Ivory-bill (though if I did!!!! Imagine that!) but I do want to immerse myself in the habitat and take bazillions of photos so people can clearly see why ivory-bills notwithstanding, the habitat is deserving of protection on its own merits. Thank goodness Binoculars.com is funding this search! What fun it's going to be."No doubt such regimentation/subordination will dissuade other potential searchers as well from participating with the Cornell team, choosing like Laura, to go their own way. While most of us probably understand to some degree the 'necessity' or expectation for this kind of control over the Arkansas search situation, it is none-the-less an unfortunate state of affairs that such tight control holds sway these days as standard American business practice (and science and educational institutions are just further forms of business). Capitalism ain't what it used to be!
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