Fossils for finding not keeping

Visitors sometimes take rocks not knowing they are protected by law

Finders keepers. Unless what you find comes from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Then it belongs to the government.

In January, the Kennedy family was hiking Fossil Ridge when Ryan, 6, spotted something on the ground.

"I was looking around and saw it sparkling," the first-grader said.

He picked up a chunk of earth with a perfectly preserved little seashell sticking out from the top. The fossilized shell was no bigger than a toddler's fingernail. His family gathered round him, exclaiming over the tiny shell.

It was too spectacular a find to just drop it back on the ground. Into their backpack it went, so Ryan could always have it.

Meeting a ranger on the hike out, the family momentarily stopped and asked how old the fossils were in the area. They were told between 300 million and 500 million years. That news made the fossilized shell in their backpack even more spectacular a find.

Actually, the fossils at Red Rock date from the Permian period, the last period of the Paleozoic Era, which lasted from 286 million to 245 million years ago. The trail the Kennedys were hiking was named Fossil Ridge for a reason.

"That area has lots of fossils, all little tiny sea creatures," said Athena Sparks, lead interpretive naturalist. "They're in every rock, literally, and imbedded in the trails. You can't look at any spot and not see them."

The Kennedys were not the only people who made an honest mistake and took something from the park. Sparks said she regularly receives boxes from out-of-state visitors returning rocks. According to the apologetic notes included, sometimes people send back the rocks because they feel guilty. Sometimes they return them because they wonder if there's a curse.

No curse for the Kennedys, just one daughter catching a cold. Besides, they readily took the fossil back to the park as soon as they learned they'd made an honest mistake. They brought it in a box and gave it to the staff manning visitor's center counter.

The family said they would never have taken the fossil if they'd known it was protected by law.

The conservation area covers more than the loop through Red Rock Canyon. There are 196,000 protected acres, extending past Spring Mountain Ranch, south of Blue Diamond and into the Spring Mountain range.

"The map lends itself to confusion," explained Raul Kennedy, the father. "The portion where we were hiking has (sections) that are privately owned. So that's where the confusion came in."

Kate Sorom, park ranger, said hikers are welcome to look for fossils, just not take them from the park. She also emphasized visitors need to stay on designated trails to preserve the delicate ecosystem.

"I tell kids, 'You can take the dirt on your shoes and the trash you brought in,' " Sorom said.

Ryan agreed with his parents that the little fossil should be put on display. He said if he sees it in the visitor's center museum, he'll remember the day he found it.

"And that you have to put it back," he said. "It has to stay there."


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