Rich Fossil Trove Found on Land Removed From Bears Ears Monument

[Judi Lynn]

The discovery calls attention to rollbacks on national monuments, which have weakened protections for important fossil sites.

By Michael Greshko
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 22, 2018

More than 200 million years ago in what's now southern Utah, crocodile-like creatures called phytosaurs roamed the landscape. Now, their fossilized skeletons have been found—on land that fell within the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, before the Trump administration shrunk the monument by nearly 85 percent.

The fossil fragments include three toothy, long-snouted phytosaur skulls. It turns out that the site had been looted before paleontologists got to it—but some scientific sleuthing by researchers, led by Museums of Western Colorado paleontologist Robert Gay, let them track down a missing skull fragment that had been poached.

“Based on our small, initial excavation, we believe that this 63-meter site may be the densest area of Triassic period fossils in the nation, maybe the world,” said Gay in a statement prepared by the Wilderness Society. “If this site can be fully excavated, it is likely that we will find many other intact specimens, and quite possibly even new vertebrate species.”

“Within the paleontology community, the size of this site and the potentially large number of specimens buried there represent an extraordinary opportunity to expand our knowledge of species that lived during the Triassic period,” added Tracy J. Thomson, coordinator of the WAVP conference, in a statement.

More:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/fossils-removed-bears-ears-national-monument-utah-spd/

[Bayard]

1. It figures

Once again, no respect for science, tradition/native belief, and the environment.