Entomology and Conservation Theater

Abstract

Entomology and parks—we've all heard stories. How about the one about the professor who wanted to survey mosquitoes in a crowded resort town inside a Canadian national park? He was turned down, because this would compromise the park's ecological integrity. Or the famous lepidopterist and pioneer of butterfly conservation who was told that he could not catch and release butterflies while leading a walk in a national wildlife refuge in Texas, because his plans were environmentally insensitive, and the refuge managers knew better. Or the graduate student who wanted to set a few cup-sized pitfall traps for ants within a protected “natural area” overrun with off-road vehicles, and found himself faced with the same paperwork as an industrial crew about to clear a road with heavy equipment. Clearly, park managers need to learn a few things about how insects, and entomologists, really work. On the other hand, park rangers might point to the notorious 1995 butterfly poaching case (yes, rangers have long memories) in which three American amateurs were convicted of collecting and selling endangered species inside national parks and other protected areas, famously ending their letters to one another with closings such as “Yours in crime,” and “Yours in poaching” (Kliener 1995). To a park ranger, the insect collecting threat can seem both real and significant, I suppose, despite how rare and extreme such examples actually are. Strong restrictions on insect collecting in parks and protected areas have long seemed spurious to me, but like many entomologists, my personal response has been to do my collecting elsewhere, rather than go through the often burdensome process of applying for …