Re: Fossil Bill

[bivalve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (David Campbell)]

Any proposed regulations regarding fossils needs to consider microfossils,
invertebrates, and common vertebrates (e.g., shark teeth).  The general
public does not always realize this.  On a field trip to a Pleistocene
shell quarry in Florida, the operator doubted thad we would find any
fossils.  He apparently thought that the vertebrate remains were the only
fossils there, a view supported by the semipopular brochures published on
the vertebrate faunas which he gave us.
Even the Paleontological Society hasn't always considered this carefully-
at the meeting a few years back we were admonished never to leave fossils
in the field, as erosion and human activities would probably remove them
before anyone else could study them.  Working on Cenozoic marine
invertebrates, I'd have to collect the entire coastal plain down to
bedrock.  This would exacerbate existing shortages in storage space.
However, there are plenty of rare invertebrates, and more importantly,
limited fossiliferous exposures with entire faunas endemic.  Protecting
such deposits would do a lot more good than generalized legislation.
Unfortunately, such a case by case approach to regulation is not easy to
legislate.  Bureaucracy apparently prefers all-inclusive pronouncements
that fail in many cases.  I don't know what would be the best approach

David Campbell   "old seashells"
Department of Geology
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
bivalve@email.unc.edu