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Show r tot. SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS C OMMUNITY Utah seeks evidence of ancient cultures and prehistoric plants and animals in the Monument It is a land of incredible wealth, unmatched for both its panoramic vistas of Uncluttered beauty and its enormous deposits of minerals and fossil fuels. Eons ago it hosted a bewildering variety of prehistoric plants and animals and witnessed the rise and fall of ancient cultures. Today, the Grand Staircase-- E seal ante National Monument in southern Utahs Garfield and Kane counties, which stretches over 1.7 million acres, is at the center of a unique debate: how do you manage such a complex asset in the interests of the greater good? To answer that question, the State ofUtah and the United States Bureau of the management team, the Utah Geological Survey ofthe Department of Natural Resources completed two studies, one designed to assess the archaeological resources of the region and the other to inventory its paleontological resources. Information on the location, extent, size, and quality of these sites needs to be available to the monument planners and the interested public to help determine how these resources will be incorporated into a management plan, says M. Lee Allison, Ph.D., the State Geologist and These Director of the UGS. - the markpreliminary reports beginning of a process that will give us an accurate overview of this regions archaeological and paleontological value. We know that the fossil resources in the monument are extensive, but we dont know their precise distribution or location. And we just dont know enough about the Land Management will be seeking to understand more fully what is contained in this vast wilderness. Complicating the issue further is the fact that 10 percent of the surface area now dontained in the monument had been set aside by Utah for the benefit of its children the regions archaeological re- School and Institutional Trust sources. Lands. Understanding the resource thus has implications far beyond the here and now: the establishing proclamation contained a promise to trade out the Trust Lands for federal lands elsewhere of comparable value. In anticipation of the needs of The surface geology of the monument is mostly sedimentary rock dating back more than 250 million years. Although paleontologists have been at work in the boundaries of what is now the monument since the not much work has been done in many areas be-mid-1800- s, Decisions, $19.95 Decisions, Decisions, $299.95 M. another ona Witti so many choices n Irte, Motorola you just Miat you needed Choose from the sleek Motorola Micro TAG Ue n, tie practical Motorola Power Pak 250. Motorola phones staling at J19.95 or the value of a Motorola Tele TAC CELLULAR!?!!mi network I'.i.ngaygiij 6 WEDNESDAY APRIL 9. - cause of accessibility or lack of knowledge. Some of the geologic forma- tions in the monument are virtually barren of fossils, and in several others the fossil record is sparse," says David D. Gillette, Ph.D., State Paleontologist and of the paleontology inventory. In most, however, the fossil record is extensive. But fossils from every formation in the monument are important for at least three reasons: first, they represent the populations that lived in this area when the sediments in those formations were deposited; second, they represent various habitats and geographic effects that were influenced by tectonic activity and sea level changes; and third, some represent highly restricted habitats and depositional conditions with unique biotas that are known only from southern Utah, especially from the monument. We need to know more in order to understand changing paleobiological conditions on the land and in the sea, to understand the evolution of plants and animals during the warning stages of the reign of dinosaurs in North America in the Cretaceous Period, and to allow us to interpret the paleoenvironmental conditions associated with the arrival of humans in North America. More also needs to known about the archaeology of the region. The known sites in the monument range from small lithic scatters of chipped stone debris, representing only brief visits, to large, visually impressive masonry village sites on the Kaiparowits Plateau and in the canyons of the Escalante River drainage. Only a few thousand sites have been identified. A site is any location or prehistoric activity which can be defined by material remains. Preliminary work suggests site densities range from fewer . than 20 sites per square mile to as many as 100 sites per scuare mile within the monument,' says David B. Madsen, chief scientist in the Environmental Sciences Program of the UGS and author co-auth-or Qtiit lit From last weeks column you know whats possible from one ten feet long. two foot wide-rohave chothe site you Preparing sen to garden in, plan for as as your needs many wide-row- s nine and square feet for require, tomato each caged plant. Indesired width clude whatever for paths between each growing area. If possible run the beds north-soutOnce the garden area is tilled, don't walk anywhere on it! Measure the length and width of each bed and other growing areas with stakes and twine. Once these are staked off, walk only in the paths. The six planting rows within the wide-bed- s cannot be made with a hoe. Ive tried many times. It is impossible, using the narrowest blade, to make furrows every four inches without covering the previous one! Until I had a special tool made for that purpose, I used the long handle of a rake, laying it down the length of the wide-roevery 4" across the bed, and stepping on the handle, an impression was made in the soil. It makes a lengthy w h. w 295-18- 11 III straight row easily and quickly. Ifyou feel a deeper impression is needed, run a gloved finger down each row, yet, seeds need only to come in contact with damp soil to germinate. .They have the loosely tilled depth of the bed to grow in. Which is one reason for staying off the garden area, until the growing areas are proporwill tioned. Seeding wide-row- s be described next week. These vegetables can be grown four inches apart; in wide-rowonions, carrots, beans, peas, kohlrabi, beets, parsnips, leaf lettuce, spinach, and turnips. Peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and head lettuce can grow in wide-row- s in a triangle pattern. Cut a triangle from heavy cardboard, with each point 10 inches apart. Mark the transplanting holes by centering the cardboard within the 2" wide-roseven inches in from each edge, poke a finger in the soil at each point of the triangle for each transplant. According to the amount wanted, move the pattern down the row using the last finger mark as a guide for the following plants. s, w, of the archaeological assessment. A recent analysis of a limited number of archaeological inventory projects in the southern portion of the monument suggests site densities of 37 per square mile, and anecdotal reports suggest densities may be much higher in other areas. Taking 40 per square mile as an average, more than 100,000 archaeological sites may exist within the monument as a whole, but only a very few have been recorded. What little we do know we have learned from Cultural Resource Management programs, which consisted of surveys and neighboring San Juan County as a guide. Projecting from that experience, archaeologists might find 43 percent of the sites in the monument would have identifiable masonry or subsurface structures, 35 percent would be lithicccramic scatters, 17 percent would be campsites, 3 percent would be caves and rock shelters, and 2 percent would contain rock art. activities have impacted archaeologic sites. What is clear, though, is that the nature of archaeological resources in the monument is so poorly known that it is impossible to plan any viable management strategy." One way of predicting what might be in the monument, Madsen suggests, is using plete avoidance, depending upon the sites cos i.exity and uniqueness. On the other hand, he says, federal standards of signifi- cance might apply to about 60 percent of the sites, which would require application of some mitigation measures prior to disturbance. Such measures could range from mitigation projects when simple surface mapping to comground-disturbin- g might GREAT WESTERN LEASING & SALES (801) 17 (800) 211-28- 11 predictions based on samples found in the Circle Cliffs area of the monument itself suggests that more than 90 percent of the prehistoric sites are simple lithic scatters and campsites. That possible discrepancy is what needs to be investigated. The UGS undertook these preliminary reports as part of its mission is to make Utah richer and safer by generating, interpreting, preserving, and distributing geologic information. |