John Day Fossil Beds

National Monument

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Stolen Treasure: Theft is a problem at Oregon monumentThe signs tell people what's there, he said, and it's human nature to search among the flat white rocks for them, pick them up and keep them as a souvenir. While the rules about what people can collect vary depending on who manages the land, the illegal removal of fossils from public lands in the John Day Basin is a continuing problem, said staff with both the Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. While people pocketing imprints of leaves are a concern in the monument, the theft of fossilized bones from mammals, including creatures distantly related to pigs, happens as well. In one case this year, a search warrant was issued for people who were spotted digging in the monument; the search turned up multiple fossils, including rhinoceros bones. [...] when people remove fossils illegally, they take away part of the prehistoric story of Eastern Oregon that scientists are trying to piece together. In the fossil beds, there are places where scientists have taken pictures of fossils on the ground and come back later to find them gone, said Ted Fremd, chief paleontologist at the monument. [...] people have found all kinds of mammals, from small mouse deer to large birds to primitive marsupials to entelodonts, 6-foot-tall animals with 8-to-10-inch tusks that are dubbed "terminator pigs." Other BLM or land management agency employees also keep an eye out for illegal activities, as do visitors familiar with the rules, he said. While other fossil deposits might be more detailed about a particular time, the national monument contains fossil records that can give scientists glimpses into the evolution of different animals or of entire ecosystems.