Vernal could get fossil repository if funding is OK'd

VERNAL — A National Park Service official gave the possible creation of a fossil repository in downtown Vernal a major boost.

In her testimony last week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C., Janet Snyder Matthews, National Park Service associate director for cultural resources, discussed the need for the proposed Uinta Research and Curatorial Center.

Senate Resolution 1678, which seeks funding for the storage facility, is sponsored by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah. It has moved out of committee and will now go before the full U.S. Senate. The legislation has been in the works for two years now.

"The center will provide proper storage for irreplaceable artifacts, improve working conditions for staff and visiting scientists, partner with the state to provide educational opportunities and give visitors the chance to discover the many wonders of eastern Utah," said Matthews. Vernal has already donated approximately five acres next to the Field House for the repository.

An incident earlier this month when Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum officials threw away fossilized bone and rock, upsetting community members who said the specimens could have been used for educational purposes, points to the need for a repository in Vernal, said state paleontologist Jim Kirkland.

"One of the things going on with that museum right now is they are not a federal repository . . . they don't have the space to keep the fossils," said Kirkland. "It's kind of a tough situation, the Uinta Basin is one of the greatest fossil places in the state of Utah."

A repository would also provide a safe place for private citizens to donate impressive collections that are now stored in attics and garages. The $8.8 million in construction funding needed for the planned 22,500 square feet of work and storage space is currently on the federal radar screen for approval in fiscal year 2007.

"The state will be the primary partner with the National Park Service. The Field House will provide visitors and residents access to the museum and programs on the natural history of the area, while the Uinta Center will provide the storage and research function of a world-class museum," Matthews recently told federal lawmakers.

Other partners in the project include Vernal City and Uintah County, who both see the venture as an economic benefit and an enhancement to the surrounding region's tourism efforts, she said. The Bureau of Land Management and the Ashley National Forest would also work with the National Park Service and store their collections in the facility.

If it is passed by Congress, Senate bill 1678 would authorize the center to be used for the curation, storage, and research of the museum collection of Dinosaur National Monument and provide for curation of other collections held by other federal agencies, tribes, and universities under the guidelines of cooperative agreements with the Secretary of Interior.

The State of Utah, local agencies, academic institutions and appropriate private nonprofit entities would also be allowed enter into agreements to manage and use the site. The bill requires that the land not become part of the Monument or be subject to laws and regulations applicable to the Monument.