I think (hope) we can more or less put this thing to bed for a while. Brent Watson and I met with BLM representatives on Friday to discuss the "experiment" and the process for obtaining permission. Brent and I will submit a formal written proposal for our study and take things from there. While those with whom we met did not dismiss the idea outright, it appears that we have a bit of an uphill battle to convince BLM managers that there will be some real scientific benefit to this research. The review process may take up to three or four months, so don't expect to hear much more from us anytime soon. Assuming we do obtain BLM permission for this study, I'm afraid it would be too problematic to invite everyone who has expressed an interest to participate in the actual event. In other words, we will have to limit our party (as in group, not revelry!) to only a handful of people. We will share our results with anyone who is interested (attention Dave Bennett: possible SLAS presentation?) and I hope that will be satisfactory for those who won't be able to join us. Incidentally, Fox 13's report in Friday night's newscast took me by surprise - it sort of ignored the whole point of the concept (i.e. meteorite impact research) and suggested that safety might be an overwhelming obstacle. (We also did not represent ourselves as "scientists," just science enthusiasts.) Certainly safety is an issue, but it is not an unmanageable difficulty. We briefly discussed this with the BLM folks; they simply want to know how we will ensure public safety and this we plan to explain in our proposal. Thanks to all who have expressed their support. You'll eventually hear how things turn out. Kim A. Hyatt, AIA SL&A Architects 331 South Rio Grande, Suite 304 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 801.322.5550 x122