'Jurassic National Monument' proposal gets local support

A proposal from two congressmen to convert a central Utah dinosaur fossil quarry rich in Jurassic-period bones into a national monument gained a key endorsement Tuesday from county officials. The Emery County public lands council voted unanimously to back a plan that would elevate the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur fossil quarry to what could be known as the "Jurassic National Monument," said Randy Johnson, Emery County's public lands adviser. The Emery County commission is also expected to back the idea. The quarry was designated a national natural landmark in 1966, and it is a mecca for paleontologists who have been coming since the 1920s to dig in what the Bureau of Land Management says is the densest concentration of Jurassic-period bones in the world. More than 12,000 fossils have been discovered. "It's a great idea. It's a national treasure out there, and it's unexploited," Johnson said. "Nobody knows about it, and it gets very little use. It deserves to be enhanced and protected." Making the site into a national monument would require Congressional approval. The idea is being promoted by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz as part of a broad eastern Utah land deal the congressman has been working on with Rep. Rob Bishop. They plan to introduce it later this year. Ethan Migliori, chair of the Emery County Commission, said he has heard only minimal opposition, and that most of it came from ranchers worried about losing cattle-grazing rights in the monument's boundaries. Migliori said they have been assured that won't happen, clearing the way for widespread support...more

You would expect Bishop and Chaffetz to have strong grazing language in their legislation.  We'll be watching to see.