virginia officials educate immigrant communities about US environmental laws

[Guest guest]

Virginia Officials Educate Immigrant Communities about U.S.

Environmental Laws

 

/August 04, 2005 -- By Dionne Walker, Associated Press/

 

RICHMOND, Virginia -- One year after a bear parts sting landed dozens of

Asians in jail, Virginia officials are pursuing more effective ways to

educate the state's diverse communities about environmental laws that

often clash with cultural traditions.

 

The state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is setting up a task

force to study educational options for preserving wildlife while

embracing a changing Virginia.

 

" We're in a melting pot of cultural diversity, " said Virginia Delegate

Brian Moran. " We want to make sure that because of someone's cultural

differences, they're not targets of criminal prosecution. "

 

The need for the task force became evident when the sting operation led

to the indictments of more than 100 people because of the sale of animal

parts -- chief among them, black bear gallbladders.

 

The organs are routinely discarded by Americans, but are considered

indispensable medicinal aids in some Asian cultures. The dried, leathery

pouches are typically powdered and added to drinks to remedy arthritis

and other aches.

 

State law allows hunters to kill one black bear each season, but

strictly prohibits the sale of their parts.

 

" That doesn't really make sense, " said Sung Bin Im, president of the

Korean American Democrats of Virginia. He said some Korean buyers didn't

realize they were breaking the law and that it was easier to pursue

buyers than the hunters who likely harvested the parts.

 

Responding to the outcry, department officials organized a wildlife law

seminar in Fairfax County, Virginia, on July 16. About 80 people, many

Korean, turned out for detailed explanations on everything from why wild

ginseng plants can't be harvested for medicinal purposes to the effects

of releasing snakehead fish into Virginia waters, a department

spokeswoman said.

 

" I realized ... that meeting needed to be the first step, " said Col. W.

Gerald Massengill, the department's interim director. " We needed to, as

an agency, develop a long-range strategy that will take us into the

future with not just Korean Americans, but all the culturally diverse

communities. "

 

He has since appointed a six-person committee to identify new ways the

department can reach out. Possible measures include designating liaisons

to Asian and Latino communities.

 

/Source: Associated Press/