More than two months after paleontologists claimed a dinosaur fossil website in Utah was significantly broken by a backhoe, the Bureau of Land Management—which had ordered the development work—has admitted that fossil trackways have been certainly broken by the heavy equipment and that the division made errors in not consulting scientists earlier than dismantling a boardwalk there. But some say the BLM nonetheless hasn’t performed sufficient to make sure this and different fossil websites might be adequately protected.

“I don’t like to be uncharitable to anybody, but if I were to describe the report in one word, I’d say: bland. And very generalized,” stated Martin Lockley, one of many world’s high ichnologists who has studied the fossils at Mill Canyon.

Mill Canyon Track Site, found in 2009 and opened to the general public in 2016, is the topic of ongoing analysis and options footprints of long-necked sauropods, ankylosaurs, and carnivorous theropods, in addition to crocodilian slide traces and different preserved remnants of the early Cretaceous. A picket boardwalk edged the big open fossil website, enabling guests to view these hint fossils with out strolling on them. It was this boardwalk that BLM officers had determined to dismantle and exchange with a extra substantial construction—however few folks knew of this plan earlier than a backhoe arrived in late January, and consultants who spoke to Gizmodo stated that heavy automobiles ought to by no means have been permitted on the location.

“If I see that somebody has put a human print in the mud off the boardwalk, I get frantic,” Sue Sternberg, a Mill Canyon Track Site volunteer steward, advised Gizmodo in early February. “So just the thought of this heavy machinery driving over the track area is so horrifying for those of us who know how fragile everything is there.”

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At the time, the BLM claimed that the backhoe was “absolutely not used in the protected area.” But amid public outcry, officers stated they’d work with paleontologists to overview the location earlier than development resumed. On March 30, the paleontological assessment, authored by BLM regional paleontologist Brent H. Breithaupt, was launched. It finds that an unspecified variety of tracks have been fractured by automobiles. Damage may have been averted, Breithaupt wrote, had a paleontologist accustomed to the location been current or had they been requested to flag delicate areas forward of time.

Breithaupt concludes that, though just a few situations of harm have been on account of pure causes (climate and erosion), fossil harm passed off because of the development in January. For instance, fossils have been broken by automobiles once they drove over “track-bearing surfaces” as they dismantled and stacked parts of the boardwalk.

“Proximate to and along the northeastern side of the boardwalk an important crocodile slide track…is partially buried by sediment,” he wrote within the evaluation. “Unfortunately, this trace was repeatedly driven over, as recent tire tracks indicate that this area was impacted by the backhoe and other vehicles.”

Breithaupt’s evaluation claims that the general harm is minor however encourages important adjustments to any development transferring ahead, together with higher paleontological enter and oversight earlier than, throughout, and after any development, together with higher communication with the work crew. Breithaupt additionally really helpful filling any open positions for BLM paleontologists.

Lee Shenton, president of the native chapter in Moab of the Utah Friends of Paleontology (UFOP), wrote in an e mail: “For Dr. Breithaupt, us UFOPers, and apparently many professional paleontologists, the root cause of the damage was the failure to involve a professional paleontologist with direct knowledge of the site, resulting in inadequate identification of the areas that were most at risk.”

Gizmodo requested Serena Baker, appearing communications director on the BLM Utah, whether or not the company has any fast plans to rent a paleontologist. She responded: “The BLM is committed to hiring a paleontologist to be based in the Moab Field Office. The hiring process takes time and financial resources, but we are committed to filling the position, as soon as possible. We are working with a BLM Paleontologist who will come to Moab to conduct additional surveys, review the environmental assessment and provide on-site monitoring.”

Shenton stated that “a couple of people are already discounting Dr. Breithaupt’s report, probably because he is a BLM employee…so they perhaps view his report as biased. My view is that his report was candid and professional, giving fourteen pages of detailed assessments of the mistakes that were made and how to avoid repeats. Understandably, his assessment is somewhat uncomfortable for those who were conducting the project.”

Lockley expressed issues about the truth that the BLM district paleontologist place—which might oversee Mill Canyon—continues to stay open. “If it was necessary before [to have a paleontologist], especially in an area like Moab where there’s huge, huge amounts of paleontological resources, why is it no longer necessary now?” he stated.

Jeanne Timmons (@mostlymammoths) is a contract author primarily based in New Hampshire who blogs about paleontology and archaeology at mostlymammoths.wordpress.com.