William Perry Pendley: BLM plays crucial role in solving natural mysteries

Oklahoma actor, performer, cowboy and Depression-era political pundit Will Rogers once declared, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” Whether he meant to or not, he could well have been opining about anthropology (the study of past human cultures) and paleontology (the study of ancient life). Discoveries weeks ago on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management prove Rogers’ point.

For decades, the scientific consensus was that, about 13,000 years ago, “the first Americans” traversed a now-submerged land bridge called Beringia across the Bering Sea between Asia and Alaska. From there, they and their progeny spread across North and South America over the next few millennia. This conclusion was based on the 1929 discovery of a human-occupied site near Clovis, New Mexico, and the presence there of fluted projectiles, hence “Clovis points.” Since then, “Clovis points” have been found throughout the American West – including my home state of Wyoming – and Texas and as far south as Venezuela. Thus, as to the origins of the first Americans, case closed.

Unfortunately, as Will Rogers would put it, that “ain’t so.” Last summer, the academic journal Science reported that the first Americans may have arrived here much earlier, in fact, as early as 16,500 years ago at a time when the Bering Sea route was impassable. That conclusion was the result of recent excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho, some 220 miles north of Boise, on BLM-managed land. Therefore, researchers now believe the earliest settlers may have come by boat – a hypothesis supported by the fact that the Cooper’s Ferry “points” resemble those of a similar age found on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In other words, the first Americans, as Loren Davis, Ph.D. of Oregon State University, put it, “came down the [Pacific] coast and took a left-hand turn south of the ice, and went up the Columbia River Basin.”

Amid all this, one thing is clear: Many answers to these and other fundamental questions are likely to be found on America’s public lands. And it is up to the BLM, working in partnership with other state and federal entities, to conserve and protect archaeological and paleontological resources to enable future generations to discover those answers.

The BLM manages 245 million surface acres of federal land – encompassing 10% of the nation’s land mass – almost exclusively in the American West. These lands provide outstanding opportunities for research – not just into human history, but also into the origins of life on Earth, the evolution of species, including dinosaurs, early mammals and other creatures. It is little wonder that BLM lands west of the 100th meridian hold some of America’s greatest treasures.

Each year, the BLM issues more than 400 authorizations to qualified researchers to explore for fossils on public land, leading to exciting discoveries almost monthly. Species new to science are discovered and additional specimens of known species increase our understanding of them and their ecosystems. The BLM also coordinates with the Department of the Interior and our sister bureaus, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and Fish and Wildlife Service, to protect vigilantly and manage thoughtfully paleontological and archaeological resources on public lands.

To that end, the department published final regulations to implement the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009, which coordinates paleontological resource management and preservation on the federal lands we are privileged to oversee. As a result, for the first time since Congress passed the law, the department will embrace a coordinated approach to the management of fossils and other paleontological resources on public lands and will require each agency to inventory and monitor these resources.

Speaking of Congress, in the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act, signed into law by President Trump on March 12, it designated the Jurassic National Monument on BLM managed lands in central Utah. The monument encompasses and expands on the current Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, which contains the densest concentration of Jurassic-aged fossils ever found. Over 12,000 bones (representing at least 74 individual dinosaurs) have been excavated at the quarry. Nonetheless, the sheer density of bones found at the site presents as many mysteries as it resolves.

Finally, with its move West, the BLM will improve its already outstanding paleontological and anthropological work by putting its senior, seasoned experts – formerly in Washington, D.C. – virtually atop the resources they manage, by partnering them with state BLM offices throughout the West.

The BLM believes unearthing the mysteries of life on Earth is not just for the experts. Individuals, families and student groups, for example, can join in the effort under thoughtful and prudent restriction, which we included in our new regulations. Check with your local BLM state, district, or field office on how you can join the fun.

BLM lands will continue to reveal scientific wonders from throughout time, from beasts that lived millions of years ago to the story of human cultures. Will Rogers, who was a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory, would no doubt be pleased.