[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6093-H6095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VIRGIN RIVER DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT PRESERVE ACT
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2385) to convey certain property to the City of St. George,
Utah, in order to provide for the protection and preservation of
certain rare paleontological resources on that property, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2385
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Virgin River Dinosaur
Footprint Preserve Act''.
SEC. 2. VIRGIN RIVER DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT PRESERVE.
(a) Authorization for Grant To Purchase Footprint
Preserve.--As soon as is practicable after the date of the
enactment of this Act, if the City agrees to the conditions
set forth in subsection (b), the Secretary of the Interior
may award to the City a grant equal to the lesser of $500,000
or the fair market value of up to 10 acres of land (and all
related facilities and other appurtenances thereon) generally
depicted on the map entitled ``Proposed Virgin River Dinosaur
Footprint Preserve'', numbered 09/06/2001-A, for purchase of
that property.
(b) Conditions of Grant.--The grant under subsection (a)
shall be made only after the City agrees to the following
conditions:
(1) Use of land.--The City shall use the Virgin River
Dinosaur Footprint Preserve in a manner that accomplishes the
following:
(A) Preserves and protects the paleontological resources
located within the exterior boundaries of the Virgin River
Dinosaur Footprint Preserve.
(B) Provides opportunities for scientific research in a
manner compatible with subparagraph (A).
(C) Provides the public with opportunities for educational
activities in a manner compatible with subparagraph (A).
(2) Reverter.--If at any time after the City acquires the
Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve, the Secretary
determines that the City is not substantially in compliance
with the conditions described in paragraph (1), all right,
title, and interest in and to the Virgin River Dinosaur
Footprint Preserve shall immediately revert to the United
States, with no further consideration on the part of the
United States, and such property shall then be under the
administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior.
(3) Conditions to be contained in deed.--If the City
attempts to transfer title to the Virgin River Dinosaur
Footprint Preserve (in whole or in part), the conditions set
forth in this subsection shall transfer with such title and
shall be enforceable against any subsequent owner of the
Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve (in whole or in
part).
(c) Cooperative Agreement and Assistance.--
(1) Cooperative agreement.--The Secretary shall enter into
a cooperative agreement with the City for the management of
the Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve by the City.
(2) Assistance.--The Secretary may provide to the City--
(A) financial assistance, if the Secretary determines that
such assistance is necessary for protection of the
paleontological resources located within the exterior
boundaries of the Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve;
and
(B) technical assistance to assist the City in complying
with subparagraphs (A) through (C) of subsection (b)(1).
(3) Additional grants.--
(A) In general.--In addition to funds made available under
subsection (a) and paragraph (2) of this subsection, the
Secretary may provide grants to the City to carry out its
duties under the cooperative agreement entered into under
paragraph (1).
(B) Limitation on amount; required non-federal match.--
Grants under subparagraph (A) shall not exceed $500,000 and
shall be provided only to the extent that the City matches
the amount of such grants with non-Federal contributions
(including in-kind contributions).
(d) Map on File.--The map shall be on file and available
for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the
Department of the Interior.
(e) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section, the
following definitions apply:
(1) City.--The term ``City'' means the city of St. George,
Utah.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(3) Virgin river dinosaur footprint preserve.--The term
``Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve'' means the
property (and all facilities and other appurtenances thereon)
described in subsection (a).
{time} 1630
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walden of Oregon). Pursuant to the rule,
the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the gentlewoman from the
Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, a very unique thing happened a little over a year ago in
St.
[[Page H6094]]
George, Utah. That is in Washington County. There was a retired
ophthalmologist by the name of Dr. Sheldon Johnson. He had some
property to the east of St. George and wanted to level it. So he had a
backhoe and all the necessary things, a front loader. He was working
there, and he had gone down about 10 feet and all of the sudden he came
to some very large flat rocks. He turned one over and lo and behold he
found dinosaur prints like the one sitting right here.
This dinosaur print is one of the most unique ones that I think has
ever been found in America. He was a little nervous about it so he kept
turning others over. Before long there was actually dozens of dinosaur
prints. There was not only prints like this one, but there was tail
drags and the whole thing. He said, What have I found here? I found
something quite amazing.
Paleontologists started coming from all around the world. In fact,
over 50 countries have been here. They looked at these things and said,
They have to be preserved. Dr. Johnson is sitting there, not knowing
what to do with these things. He goes to the State and the State people
say, That is wonderful. All the universities say, This is a wonderful
thing to see. People come from France and say, This has to be
preserved. But no one figures out how to do it because this is the up
side of the print and not the down side. When it is sitting there,
rain, wind other things start to erode it.
Dr. Johnson is sitting there with his wife. He has got literally
thousands of people, over 150,000 people from 54 countries, standing
there wanting to see this fabulous find of Dr. Johnson. How does he do
it? The city said, Dr. Johnson, we would like to help you. The county
says the same thing. The State says the same thing. So we took a look
at it and said, If this is really the find of the century regarding
this thing, something ought to be done.
As you know, our current President probably is not as inclined to
make monuments as our past President, who was very good at making
monuments. He could make 10 a day without any trouble whatsoever. But
this President was not inclined to do it. He decided it should be done
a different way. We thought maybe it would be a good idea if we made
kind of a coordinated effort between the Federal Government, who in
this bill is authorizing $500,000 to help out, the State of Utah,
universities, and countries who have come up with a combined effort to
be able to display these.
A lot of people have asked, Are there more? Well, there could be
dozens of them for all we know. We are all nervous about turning over
any more rocks until someone figures out a way to take care of these
things. This is a good step forward without the Federal Government
coming in with their huge resources and spending any hard-earned money
we take out of the Park Service to figure out a way to do this.
This bill, H.R. 2385, as amended, would authorize up to $500,000 to
the City of St. George to facilitate and purchase up to 10 acres of
land where the footprints and tail drags are located for the protection
of this resource.
Mr. Speaker, I think this would be a good thing to do. It is
interesting to see how many people come to visit. You go down there and
there are actually bus loads and bus loads of yellow school buses and
children spilling out to see this. There are people coming in so that
we have to have interpreters there to speak their language because they
want to see this. So we do not really have a way to take care of this,
and this is starting to get it going.
Dr. Johnson wanted to send this out to all the Members of Congress so
they can see what it actually looks like to see prints. This is the
first time they have even had the toe nails in the prints and the tail
drags and things like that. This unique experience happened to this
retired ophthalmologist 5 miles east of St. George. Now we have a
chance to preserve this for time and all eternity, and people can come
to see it.
I would suggest to the House that this is one of those better things
that we could be doing right now to help out something that people will
come from all over to see it.
Mr. Speaker, I think this is interesting because just outside of St.
George this little thing has created worldwide attention. People from
South Africa have come there, people from Brazil, people from
Australia, New Zealand. We will now ask some of them to pony-up a few
bucks to help this thing out.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that in September of 1996 the
President created the Grand Staircase Escalante, 1.7 million acres; and
all that money has gone into it and all that work has gone into it. In
the short time this has been around, it has had a higher visitation
than the Grand Staircase. Of course, there is nothing to see in the
Grand Staircase but sagebrush, but maybe some people want to see that.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am just as fascinated by this find as our esteemed
chairman.
H.R. 2358, as reported by the Committee on Resources, is a bipartisan
proposal to provide the technical and financial assistance for the
preservation of important paleontological resources that have been
found in the district of the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
The private property in question contains dinosaur tracks that have
been seen that were discovered last year. It was evident from our
hearing on H.R. 2385 before the Committee on Resources and the
Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands that this
was a very interesting and exciting dinosaur-related find. However, the
original proposal to buy the site and give the land to the city of St.
George, Utah, was highly unusual.
The administration, while generally supportive, also had a number of
concerns with the bill as drafted.
The gentleman from Utah (Chairman Hansen) and members of his staff
worked closely with the minority and the administration to address the
concerns of the bill. As a result, an amendment in the nature of a
substitute was adopted by the Committee on Resources that incorporated
the suggestions made by the minority regarding the acquisition of this
site, as well as the changes suggested by the administration.
I believe that the committee amendment significantly improves the
bill and would provide a very efficient way to assist in the
preservation of the unique and well-preserved dinosaur tracks in Utah.
I appreciate the willingness of the gentleman from Utah (Chairman
Hansen) and his staff to address the issues identified with his
legislation. I support the passage of H.R. 2385 and commend our
chairman on this project.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Radanovich), the new chairman of the
Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands.
Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I lend my support to this bill. I
believe it is a rare opportunity to protect these resources by creating
a long-lasting public-private partnership that will protect these
fossils, while at the same time provide opportunities for the
scientific community to study these important findings and allow the
general public rare glimpses into life during the Jurassic Period. I
think it is exceptional that this is getting more attendance than the
Grand Escalante Staircase Monument.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R.
2385.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).
Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, today we have an opportunity to pass
legislation that will truly preserve history. Not our history, but the
history of the Earth over 200 million years ago, the history of the
dinosaurs.
200 million years ago, scientists believe that the redrock desert of
Southern Utah was part of a large shallow lake. Dinosaurs fed at the
shoreline of this lake. They walked this Earth, and they left their
tracks.
Early last spring, in a time far removed from the dinosaurs, a
retired ophthalmologist living in St. George, Utah, began leveling out
a part of his yard and discovered what is now being cited as one of the
best collections of dinosaur footprints ever on Earth.
[[Page H6095]]
These 150 footprints show the tracks of multiple species of dinosaurs.
They are detailed, revealing claws, three toes, and the joints where
dinosaurs may have crouched down.
Paleontologists currently believe these footprints may be a record of
the first meat eater in the dinosaur age and potentially include a
previously unknown species.
Since the discovery of these tracks, Dr. Sheldon Johnson and his
wife, LaVerna, have generously shown thousands of visitors through
their property to see the tracks. In one 2-week period, over 12,000
people journeyed to Southern Utah to witness this amazing discovery.
Despite the individual generosity of the Johnsons, in the long term
these tracks must be preserved. This bill will allow the appropriate
preservation of these tracks in the necessary condition. It will help
the city of St. George cope with the visitors, and it will leave a
history of dinosaurs preserved for over 200 million years for many more
generations to discover.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support this legislation, and I
personally look forward to visiting this site often during my frequent
trips to the St. George area.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2385, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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