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John Daley ReportingA bill being considered on Utah's Capitol Hill would sharply limit archeologists in decisions about public lands.
Utah has some of the greatest archaeological sites in the US, if not the world, with everything from dinosaur bones to the settlements of the ancient Fremont and Anazazi tribes. But those sites are often fragile and are protected by both federal and state laws.
When a site is discovered, archaeologists play an important role in decisions about excavating, surveying and recording what's there. Some of those finds sometimes conflict with resource extraction and development. Now, a new bill, House Bill 139, would change the equation handing the oversight of resources from archaeologists to the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. The bill would also lower the standards for the professional archaeologist involved in the process.
Rep. Brad Johnson, (R) Aurora: "The costs have been too high and there is certain archaeological resources we do need to preserve, but not all of them. And there's some that are not as important as others."
Dr. Renee Barlow, Archaeologist: "We don't want to move backwards in that approach to really protecting the resources, but in making that information available to other archaeologists and to the public we want to maintain a fairly high standard. We're proud of the archaeology of Utah and we don't want to potentially hurt it in any way."
Currently, field supervisors conducting fieldwork need a masters or Ph.D. The bill weakens that requirement and archaeologists say that'll have the effect of weakening protection for archaeological sites.
But the bill's sponsor says this bill is all about balance and restoring a balance between preservation and development.
