OK, let's see: These fossil tracks are "irreplaceable." They are important. So---- Are you telling me that there is no monitoring of these fossils, to the point where their disappearance happened somewhere between a one year period!? Worse, their theft is being reported 4-5 years after the fact!! Give me a break! What idiots are in charge at this park? By now, those fossils are sitting in someone's private collection, and that's that! The firing of the folks whose watch they were stolen on is lonnnngggg overdue. Then again, those people are also probably long gone. Crazy! https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1563/care-rfi-05102022.htm
That’s strange. Until recently, my wife’s daughter, Robin, was an avid fossil collector and when she wasn’t working she spent a lot of time going along river beds looking for them. Of course, her collection is mostly comprised of rocks with leaf or fish prints in them but they’re interesting just the same. One time though, she did her searching on a riverbed that is deemed to be Federally protected as an archeological and historical site and got nailed by a Ranger. He told her that nothing could even be touched much less picked up and pocketed. I guess he knew that it was just an innocent endeavor on Robin’s part but he made her dump her pockets with no ticket just the same. Now, the site where she was exploring isn’t even a well known area and isn’t really a head turner in any way. Other than some scattered old graves in the much overgrown woods, there’s nothing there. No big signs, no warnings. Just woods, a big moldy pond and a rocky beach where few people have even gone. Still, like playing solitaire on a desert island and someone suddenly shows up to tell you about a missed move, there was a Ranger ready to cite someone for disturbing whatever they say shouldn’t be disturbed.