Not only that, but a lot of the most valuable fossils, once exposed to the weather, start deteriorating.
The federal government would rather have them destroyed than collected.
Yep. The same erosional forces which expose them will destroy them.
Sadly, geologists of the future won't happen because they found a neat rock or a fossil on vacation and were inspired to learn more about it.
I thank God I grew up in the America I did--it was the fossils and 'neat' rocks I found as a child (on private land) which inspired me to take up what has been a rewarding profession.