Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Paleontological Resource Site Monitoring Plan

Wilson, Patrick; Widrig, Klara

doi:10.36967/2319342

The sedimentary rocks of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GLCA) span roughly 300 million years of Earth’s history. The recreation area is famous for its extensive Mesozoic exposures, which represent one of the world’s most complete sections of Mesozoic strata. Dinosaur trackways are common within GLCA, but the recreation area also contains vertebrate bones and teeth, invertebrate shells and burrows, petrified wood, and coprolites (fossil feces). In 2009, GLCA was selected by the National Park Service (NPS) Paleontology Program as the prototype paleontological resource monitoring park for the NPS. Following years of data gathering, this monitoring plan has been prepared to outline procedures for paleontological resource monitoring. Paleontological resources are non-renewable; “new” Mesozoic fossils cannot be generated. Should fossil resources be damaged, destroyed, or removed from their original context without proper documentation, scientific and educational value is lost that can never be regained. It is necessary to monitor paleontological resource sites to track changes in the condition and stability of paleontological resources. This alerts resource managers to the frequency and degree of impacts on resources and provides the scientific basis for future administrative actions for their management. More than 800 paleontological localities have been identified within GLCA, 30 of which are identified in this document as priority sites for paleontological resource monitoring. These localities were selected on the basis of their scientific significance, ease of access, site condition evaluation scores, and susceptibility to both natural and anthropogenic erosion. These sites, the rationale for their monitoring, and suggested monitoring intervals are described. Because of the size of the recreation area and the challenges of access, careful logistical planning is needed. Four sample work plans centered around different groups of sites are provided. This paleontological resource monitoring plan for GLCA provides reporting and monitoring information that constitutes a tool kit that can be adapted and transferred to other NPS areas with similar resource conditions. This strategy provides a standardized method for managing fossil resources subject to the “no impairment” standard set forth in the National Park Service Organic Act (1916). It also fulfills mandates in the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (2009) that paleontological resources on federal land be inventoried, managed, monitored, and protected using scientific principles and expertise.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Paleontological Resource Site Monitoring Plan

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