Dear HCN,
We appreciate the
attention that High Country News recently gave to fossil ownership,
but first, we need to point out that part of the nation’s fossil
legacy also occurs on land administered by the Forest Service. The
Forest Service has been managing fossil localities for years on a
case-by-case basis, and began developing a national management
strategy last year. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest
Service are working together closely to ensure that national
opportunities and regulations are coordinated across jurisdictional
boundaries.
Second, it’s just not true that “only
college-educated paleontologists can collect fossils on BLM land.”
BLM regulations allow the public to collect many kinds of fossils
for their personal collections, and no permit is required. Permits,
issued to people who are trained and educated in collecting fossils
and scientific data, are required for scientifically significant
specimens such as dinosaurs because of long-standing Department of
the Interior policy to hold these specimens in the public trust as
part of the nation’s natural heritage. Forest Service regulations
mirror those of the BLM.
Opinions differ widely
on whether, as you report, “current regulations are a mess.”
Applicants for BLM collecting permits need fill out only a one-page
form and supply a summary of their qualifications. Somehow, 37
professional paleontologists managed to do this last year for BLM
lands just in Wyoming, and over 200 students, amateurs, children
and local visitors worked with them to learn about the history of
life on Earth. The Forest Service currently has working
arrangements with paleontologists at 13 institutions in Colorado,
Nebraska and Wyoming, plus dozens of others in other
states.
Although the article by Heather Abel
suggests that the BLM acts primarily to restrict fossil collecting,
it is our mission to facilitate field studies in paleontology and
foster appreciation of fossils in education and recreation. Under
the requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, many fossils are available to all with few restrictions, and
the orderly collection of significant specimens and data is
enforced to prevent their loss to the scientific community and the
American people. The Forest Service acts under similar mandates of
the National Forest Management Act. Their intention to conserve the
value of the fossil record for the current and future benefit of
the American people echoes the mission of the BLM toward fossil
resources.
Laurie J. Bryant
and Cathleen L.
May
Laurie Bryant is a
paleontologist for the BLM in Casper, Wyo., and Cathleen May is
program leader of the National Paleontology Center of Excellence
for the Forest Service.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Agencies help fossil collectors.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
