Re: Dinosaur discoveries and remote sensing

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/02 2:40:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rob@dinodomain.com writes:


<< I'd disagree with HP Varner on this one (maybe because I worked on it, so I'm biased). If we know where localities are, it a)becomes harder for fossil smugglers to avoid detection b)easier for us to relocate localities (including old ones; something else that was part of the project) c)allows you to get an idea of what the outcrop might be like before you get there. >>

       I have also worked on the problem (with the Forest Service, incidentally). We plotted poacher's excavations using GPS, by the way. The meager law enforcement staff available to safeguard non-renewable paleontological resources over such an enormous area of public lands here in the US is quite laughable. Any wholesale distribution of locality information would be quite disasterous to our science, especially when it comes to dinosaurs. DV