Fowler Park, Vigo County Indiana 9/4/16

[deutscheben]

Nice, that is a good one! 

[JustPlainPetrified]

Some very nice finds! Thanks for sharing.

[deutscheben]

I was thinking of heading back down to Fowler Wilderness Park/Griffin Bike Park later this summer, so I called the Vigo County Parks office to see if they were still permitting fossil collecting. Unfortunately, the answer was no. As of late spring of this year, fossil collecting is no longer allowed in Griffin Bike Park. The park manager explained that it was a combination of a few factors- overcollection by disrespectful fossil hunters who had been digging large holes in the park as well as concerns about the interaction between speeding bikes and fossil collectors with their eyes on the ground. 

 

It deeply saddens me that a small group of individuals have ruined another one of the few remaining fossil sites accessible to the public through their actions- there were plenty of nodules lying out in the open that could have been surface collected with no disturbance to the park, but someone decided to get greedy. 

[RJB]

Some nice plant stuff ya got there!  The preservation on some of those is fantastic!

 

RB

[Pilobolus]

On 7/31/2017 at 1:35 PM, deutscheben said:

I was thinking of heading back down to Fowler Wilderness Park/Griffin Bike Park later this summer, so I called the Vigo County Parks office to see if they were still permitting fossil collecting. Unfortunately, the answer was no. As of late spring of this year, fossil collecting is no longer allowed in Griffin Bike Park. The park manager explained that it was a combination of a few factors- overcollection by disrespectful fossil hunters who had been digging large holes in the park as well as concerns about the interaction between speeding bikes and fossil collectors with their eyes on the ground. 

 

It deeply saddens me that a small group of individuals have ruined another one of the few remaining fossil sites accessible to the public through their actions- there were plenty of nodules lying out in the open that could have been surface collected with no disturbance to the park, but someone decided to get greedy. 

 

 

 

How does one define "greedy" I wonder?  On my sites, wherein the law dictates surface finds only, and no "mining", I guess those hole diggers would be just that. However, I find that kind of ironic in your park where big yellow pieces of equipment were brought in to satisfy only one use of a public place.

[FossilDAWG]

Hole digging is one thing, but usually the real problem is people not filling in their holes when they are done.  

 

Don

[ynot]

6 hours ago, Pilobolus said:

How does one define "greedy" I wonder? 

In this case I would define "greedy" as doing things that may get the site closed to all collecting, just to get a few more than someone else.

[Raggedy Man]

Well scratch that one off the list....

[deutscheben]

Yes, by greedy I meant acting in a short-sighted way to maximize one's personal haul, at the expense of others who would want to enjoy the park long term. As I said in my first trip report, the construction work and established  trails left plenty of nodules exposed- there was no need to go digging. Also, that construction work was approved and carefully guided to make the park better for bike riding. In contrast the holes I saw dug by fossil collectors were haphazard and done only feet from the trails, leaving ugly deep potholes that they made no effort to backfill. I see now that the concerns about over-collecting mentioned by the staff member in my first call were not that they were running out of fossils, but rather that collectors were acting irresponsibly. 

 

All that being said, I won't give up hope- I think it might be worth it going forward to suggest they implement a permit and restricted surface collecting regimen system like at Mazonia-Braidwood, or perhaps just hold supervised designated fossil-collecting days or programs- they could even charge a fee and I would be happy to pay.