LOGISTICAL ISSUES SURROUNDING PALEONTOLOGICAL FIELDWORK IN GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT, SOUTHERN UTAH

Conducting paleontological fieldwork in an area as extensive and remote as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) presents numerous challenges. Yet recent work within the Monument has also demonstrated the great potential for recovering abundant, well-preserved fossil vertebrates, as well as plants and invertebrates. Given the paucity of roads within the Monument, field efforts are, to a great extent, dependent on accessing remote areas.

Over the past two years, the Utah Museum of Natural History has conducted several months of fieldwork in the Late Cretaceous Kaiparowits and Wahweap formations of GSENM. These efforts, now formalized in a five-year collaborative agreement with GSENM, have allowed us to gain considerable experience working in the remote backcountry of the Monument. This experience has generated a new appreciation of the logistical constraints, both in terms of paleontological survey and excavation, given the geographic and political realities of working in GSENM. Not surprisingly, vehicle access to these fossiliferous Late Cretaceous deposits tends to be extremely limited. Moreover, exposures of the Wahweap and Kaiparowits occur largely within regions designated as wilderness study area, resulting in limited opportunities for mechanized excavation as well as transport of specimens and equipment. Our methodology for backcountry surveys and excavations will be presented, as well as a discussion of the limitations associated with conducting this type of remote paleontology.

Clearly, paleontologists must work together directly with Monument administrators in developing strategies for conducting surveys and excavations while simultaneously minimizing environmental impact. Highly significant and unique specimens are under constant threat of exposure and erosion, and we should waste no time developing strategies to locate and preserve fossil resources before they are permanently damaged or destroyed.