Comment from Douglas Yanega

Hi. I would VERY strongly urge the USDA to consider granting exceptions to the following category of plant material: pressed plant samples that are unidentified, being imported for purposes of identification by botanists. The regulations, as written, require material to be identified to species, and the entire purpose of a scientific expedition is to bring back samples of plants whose identities are NOT easily determined. Some of the very scientists whose research would be adversely affected are themselves USDA employees - for example, a number of my colleagues who study bees and collect samples of the host plants that various bees were found visiting; they need to bring back plant samples in order to get them identified, and obviously cannot supply identifications at the time of importation! It is incredibly frustrating, from personal experience, trying to do research when our own government has regulations that make no realistic accommodations for the needs of scientists; imagine what it's like to have a 2 million dollar NSF grant to work abroad, and then have one's research specimens confiscated by a USDA agent who insists that specimens with no identification are illegal to bring into the US. There needs to be SOME form of accommodation.