The American Lands Access Association, Inc. represents the rockhounding interests of 325 gem & mineral clubs/societies in 47 States and the District of Columbia.

                   ALAA - WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE?   

In 1991, the President of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS) appointed a select committee to recommend ways to make the Federation more effectively responsive to the political challenges of increasing regulation and decreasing access to public lands that state and federal land management agencies were imposing on amateur fossil and mineral collectors. The committee recommended that the AFMS form a separate 501(c)(4) organization whose primary purpose would be to promote the amateur collectors' interests in present and proposed policies, rules, regulations and legislation with State and Federal land managers, elected officials and legislators. In compliance with that recommendation, the AFMS directors voted to establish the American Lands Access Association (ALAA) in July 1992 at their convention in Brunswick, Ohio. The association is a 501 (c)(4) (non-profit) organization which means that all moneys raised by the association can go toward lobbying activity. Donations and memberships to ALAA are not tax-deductible.
    The purpose of the association is to promote and ensure the rights of amateur fossil and mineral collecting, recreational prospecting and mining, and the use of public and private lands for educational and recreational purposes; and to carry the voice of all amateur collectors and hobbyists to our elected officials, government regulators and public land managers. Their work began immediately! Within days of the July meeting, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced the Vertebrate Paleontological Resources Protection Act of 1992 into the U.S. Senate. If enacted, the legislation would have ended amateur fossil collecting on all public lands managed by the Federal government exceptunder supervision of certain degreed paleontologists in "acceptable institutions."
    ALAA has become an organization that is present wherever there are hobbyist and recreational users of our public lands whose interests and concerns are not being heard or are being jeopardized by proposed policy, regulation or legislation at the local, state and federal level. From defeating the Baucus Bill in 1992 to coordinating massive public protest to the proposed US Forest Service rules (withdrawn) and the Bureau of Land Management's RS (Revised Statutes) 2477 Rights-of-Way (rewritten), the ALAA has earned the respect of public officials from Washington, DC to state capitols across the country as the voice of the amateur and recreational users of public lands. The association has also formed working relationships with many other organizations fighting for private property rights and multiple use of public lands including the Blue Ribbon Coalition  as well as treasure hunters, metal detectorists, fishing and hunting enthusiasts, and mining and timber interests. With this network of contacts, the Association reaches into every State and into every Congressional District in the country on a national level. That network provides a swift and effective response to issues brought to our attention.
    On another level, many officers, directors and members of the association have developed ongoing working relationships with local, state and federal officials and legislators. This other network provides us with immediate access to and an impact on many proposals for changing regulations, policy or legislation before they become set in the concrete of implementation.
    ALAA is also there when there are confrontations in the field and when proposals are made for expanding federal ownership of land such as publicizing and fighting the Heritage Corridor Act, and other attempts to establish additional wilderness areas under federal control.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO CONTINUE OUR STRUGGLE TO PROTECT PUBLIC LANDS FOR THE PUBLIC TO WHOM THEY BELONG! ADD YOUR VOICE TO OURS!   JOIN ALAA NOW !