[Smokin' Joe]

Now you make sense, thanks. I was wondering for a while there. I understand (and greatly share) your frustration. For me to collect a vertebrate fossil on Federal Land is to chance a Felony conviction, even if by so doing I save the fossil from imminent destruction. As a scientist, I would be remiss not to perform the very act which would brand me a criminal, and jeopardize my standing as a professional.

I know of an area in Wyoming where dozens of turtle fossils are being disarticulated by erosion and washed away piece by piece. Perhaps they are not paleontologically significant, but at least some could have been recovered more or less intact. Some probably still could be. Permit interested people to come in, show them how to recover, preserve, and reassemble the fossils, and there would be a lot of these in collections, private and public, available for study.

[Theophilus]

where dozens of turtle fossils are being disarticulated by erosion and washed away piece by piece

Facts like these reveal a governing attitude that does not care for the artefacts but only for it's power over them. Thanks for your patience with my venting.