Fossil Cycad National Monument: A Case of Paleontological Resource Mismanagement
Santucci VL and Hughes M. 1998. Fossil Cycad National Monument: A Case of Paleontological Resource Mismanagement. National Park Service Paleontological Research Volume 3, Technical Report NPS/NRGRD/GRDTR-9801, p. 8. National Park Service. Kemmerer, WY
Through the power provided in the Antiquities Act (1906), on October 21, 1922, President Warren G. Harding created Fossil Cycad National Monument. Scientists recognized that the fossil locality preserved a significant exposure of a Cretaceous cycadeoid forest. Hundreds of fossilized cycad specimens, one of the world's greatest concentrations, were exposed at the surface of the 320 acre site during the early 1920s. Years of negligent management at the monument resulted in adverse impacts on the fossil resource. The fossils on the surface disappeared faster than erosion could expose other specimens from beneath. The loss of the exposed petrified plant remains eventually left the site devoid of fossils and ultimately without a purpose to justify its existence as a unit of the National Park Service. On September 1, 1957, the United States Congress voted to deauthorize Fossil Cycad National Monument.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Santucci, Vincent; Hughes, Marikka
- Date of Issue
- 1998
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- HIST , NGPN
- Keywords
- Cultural Resources, cycad, ehistory, Fossil Cycad National Monument, Fossils, History, Natural History, Paleontological Resource Mismanagement, Paleontology
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology