Paleontology of Bears Ears National Monument Preprint

[Oxytropidoceras]

There is a new paper about the paleontology of Bears Ears National Monument

that is available online as a preprint. It is:

 

Uglesich, J., Gay, R.J. and Stegner, M.A., 2017. Paleontology
of the Bears Ears National Monument: history of exploration
and designation of the monument. PeerJ Preprints, 5, no. e3442v1.

https://peerj.com/preprints/3442/

https://peerj.com/user/62073/

 

Another paper, which is available online, summarizes the 

archaeology of Bears Ears National Monument. It is:

Burrilio, R.E., 2017. The Archaeology of Bears Ears. The
SAA Archaeological Record. 15, 5, pp. 9 -18.
http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/Record_Nov_2017 SAAweb.pdf

http://onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?m=16146&l=1#{"issue_id":455593,"page":0}
http://www.saa.org/AbouttheSociety/Publications/TheSAAArchaeologicalRecord/tabid/64/Default.aspx

Yours,

Paul

[Innocentx]

Do you know, will these archaeological sites continue to be protected?

[Oxytropidoceras]

As long as the area remains federal land, there is some degree of official protection. However, it will be significantly less protection than if legal challenges succeed in blocking the requested changes to Bears Ears National Monument. For more information contact, Friends of Cedar Meas at https://www.friendsofcedarmesa.org

[sseth]

1 hour ago, Innocentx said:

Do you know, will these archaeological sites continue to be protected?

The area has always been protested.  The status does not change with the designation.  The same laws are in place because it is currently federal land.  There has, in my opinion, been much ado about nothing with all of this.  Being a native of Utah and having spent a tremendous amount of time in this area, it has always been a treasure, and the sites are amazing.  I actually support the scaling back in size of these two gargantuan monuments that were never in line with the cultural treasures within.  The new boundaries are still probably too large, but do include most of the sites with any significance.

 

We in Utah did always find it comical that Grand Staircase was created by Clinton while on the campaign trail and while he was sitting in Arizona rather than at the monument, and the Bears Ears was created by Obama while he was in Hawaii.  I would think that one would actually want to at least visit the monument before creating it.  Just my opinion.

 

I too believe that these treasures should absolutely be protected, but there are better ways to do it than by simply designating it a national monument and not allocating any additional personnel or staff to help with it.  Lets enforce the laws and penalties that are already in place and start there.  That is the best first step in the process.

 

Sorry to vent.  I just get annoyed when people spout off without any actual knowledge of the area or the process.

 

Seth

[Innocentx]

Thanks for the information, @sseth. 

[Oxytropidoceras]

Below are discussions about what is at stake concerning

Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bear Ears national monuments.

 

What national monument protections do. Some say the Bears

Ears shrinkage won’t change anything — they’re wrong.

Jonathan Thompson Perspective, December. 8, 2017

http://www.hcn.org/articles/monuments-what-national-monument-protections-do

http://www.hcn.org/articles/climate-desk-how-much-federal-land-could-be-at-stake-in-trumps-rush-for-more-drilling

http://www.hcn.org/topics/bears-ears-national-monument

 

What could be lost in a push for mining in monuments In Grand

Staircase-Escalante, coal and fossils lie side by side.

Rebecca Worby , High Country News Essay, November 3, 2017

http://www.hcn.org/articles/monuments-in-grand-staircase-escalante-coal-and-dinosaur-fossil-lie-side-by-side

http://www.hcn.org/topics/monuments

 

Remarkable dinosaur discoveries under threat with Trump plan

to shrink national monument in Utah, scientists say by Michael

Finnegan in Escalante, Utah, Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-trump-national-monuments-20171026-htmlstory.html

 

Remarkable Dinosaur Finds Threatened By Trump Plan To Shrink

Utah Monument. A unique record of the American past may soon

be open to mining. By Mary Papenfuss, Huffington Post.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-dinosaur-utah-monument_us_59f4f79de4b03cd20b81fca1

 

Grand Staircase, Home to Countless Dinosaur Fossils, Could Be

Destroyed by Mining (Op-Ed) By P. David Polly, President of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology,  November 30, 2017

https://www.livescience.com/61059-trump-may-shrink-national-monuments.html

 

Scientists decry Trump’s move to strip fossil treasures from Utah’s

Grand Staircase monument Kaiparowits Plateau holds a well-

preserved, 25 million-year record of prehistoric animals living

during the key Late Cretaceous period — along with most of Utah’s

untapped coal reserves. Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2017/12/10/scientists-decry-trumps-move-to-strip-fossil-treasures-from-utahs-grand-staircase-monument/

 

Science and politics collide over Bears Ears and other national monuments

By Carolyn Gramling, Science, April 27, 2017

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/science-and-politics-collide-over-bears-ears-and-other-national-monuments

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[Zapsalis]

On 12/12/2017 at 3:18 PM, sseth said:

The area has always been protested.  The status does not change with the designation.  The same laws are in place because it is currently federal land.  There has, in my opinion, been much ado about nothing with all of this.  Being a native of Utah and having spent a tremendous amount of time in this area, it has always been a treasure, and the sites are amazing.  I actually support the scaling back in size of these two gargantuan monuments that were never in line with the cultural treasures within.  The new boundaries are still probably too large, but do include most of the sites with any significance.

 

We in Utah did always find it comical that Grand Staircase was created by Clinton while on the campaign trail and while he was sitting in Arizona rather than at the monument, and the Bears Ears was created by Obama while he was in Hawaii.  I would think that one would actually want to at least visit the monument before creating it.  Just my opinion.

 

I too believe that these treasures should absolutely be protected, but there are better ways to do it than by simply designating it a national monument and not allocating any additional personnel or staff to help with it.  Lets enforce the laws and penalties that are already in place and start there.  That is the best first step in the process.

 

Sorry to vent.  I just get annoyed when people spout off without any actual knowledge of the area or the process.

 

Seth

I’m just going to put my two cents in. The rescinding of those two monuments were backed by extracting and drilling companies, though. Indigenous people are opposed to the move and so are paleontologists and probably archeologists too. There’s a paleontologist who works with Triassic fossils (he and his team found a phytosaur in WY, I think) and he is worried about the monuments being scaled down. He even noted about a nearby road at Bear’s Ear where anybody in a pickup truck can just take fossils and leave. Plus, there were reports pertaining to the economic benefits of these monuments, but the feds made sure to censor those parts out. I agree that there should be much more done to protecting the monuments, but I feel that monument designation is at least a step in the right direction.

 

Sorry for the lengthy reply on such an old topic, but I just wanted to express my opinion on the matter and what I’ve found while researching this rash move to scale down parks and monuments. I will admit that I’m not a Utah native, but the archeological and paleontological significance of these parks are very important. I hope that this didn’t come across as condescending, I just wanted to add my thoughts.

[DPS Ammonite]

I generally agree with Seth: designating land as a National Monument without paying for more protection for the paleontological and archeological resources will not provide better protection. What will happen is that the casual collecting of common fossils (rocks and minerals too) by the general public will stop. If we leave the land in the hands of the BLM and the US Forest Service, fossil, rock and mineral collecting will be allowed with limitations. I am all for the BLM and the Forest Service to make it easier for professionals to obtain permits to study the resources before they disappear and degrade and to get more money to protect those resources.

[non-remanié]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 3:18 PM, sseth said:

The new boundaries are still probably too large, but do include most of the sites with any significance.

 

We in Utah did always find it comical that Grand Staircase was created by Clinton while on the campaign trail and while he was sitting in Arizona rather than at the monument, and the Bears Ears was created by Obama while he was in Hawaii.  I would think that one would actually want to at least visit the monument before creating it.  Just my opinion.

 

 

I love the part of the argument that proclaims absolute knowledge of the collective opinion of the entire state "We in Utah..." turns into "Just my opinion" at the end.    In my opinion you don't really need to visit Botswana to trust the local experts that study elephant poaching there to trust their opinions on policy regarding it,  do you? 

 

And how does Seth  know that all the "sites of significance"  in the vast area have already been discovered?   That's [an] assumption, in my opinion.   But I don't live in Utah.   

 

 

 

 

[Innocentx]

***We need drilling and mining to expose more stuff so we can get all these fossils categorized and reclassified several times before the next mass extinction.***
Now where's that sarcasm emoji when you need it? 
I drove through Utah once... beautiful, majestic area and I mean that.