Urgent- help protect the St. George dinosaur trackways

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

Paleontological community action is urgently needed to preserve the important 
new discoveries at the St. George, Utah dinosaur track site.  Many of you are 
familiar with the "dinosaur sit site" which was announced last week (and was 
also featured on The Today Show on Sunday, March 29).  This site will be 
destroyed in the building of the new museum:

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=84035
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=84026
"Researchers made rubberized casts of this latest discovery - since 
construction crews tomorrow will begin tearing up the area to make way for St. 
George's new one-point-two million dollar dinosaur museum.  That building will 
eventually protect all the other tracks found at this historic site."

Sources close to the excavation have told me that removal of the rock at the 
top of the site has just started, but that workers are moving very slowly in 
hopes of someone stopping this destruction.

The large latex peel that was made is too thin and needs to be stabilized first 
to have any chance of being a good replica. All of the latex stock in town has 
been used (and they have been working by flashlight). Those who are trying to 
study the site need more time to finish mapping the area, as they are finding 
more tracks as they clean. They also need time to finish a proper latex peel. 

What is needed right now is for the city to ask for a variance to build closer 
to the roadside.  This new, rare dinosaur trackway deserves protection and 
study as a world-class site--and a time extension and zoning variance are 
critical.

Please write to the following key e-mail addresses to express your support for 
the protection of these scientifically unique and important tracks:

Martin Stephens, Speaker of the House, martystephens@utah.gov

Wayne Harper,  House of Representatives, wayneh@whordan.com 

Kent Perkins, St. George Leisure Services Director, kperkins@infowest.com

Dan McArthur, Mayor of St. George, mcarthur@infowest.com

Gary Sanders, Community Arts, artadmn@infowest.com
_____

Mary Kirkaldy