Geoantiquity Heritage Areas
Urban development is rapidly changing our landscape. Meeting the resource needs
of a growing urban environment while maintaining benefits of open space and
important natural resources is a particularly challenging problem.
At the same time, conservation of natural areas in the United States has primarily focused on biological, ecological or aesthetic criteria. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has been used to identify and protect scenic and biological qualities of sites. Federal land agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service manage sites primarily for resource uses. And even though some national parks have been set aside for their scientific value, only a small number of sites are likely to make it into the National Park System.
The geoantiquity concept parallels the well-established model of cultural resource management for cultural antiquities (i.e., historic and archaeological sites), in which sites of special importance are recognized and afforded legal protection. Using this premise, the concept introduces the idea of geoconservation: protecting areas based on scientifically important geological and geomorphological resources. This concept is well-developed in Europe, but the existing legislative framework in the United States does not provide appropriate protection for sites based on geoconservation.
To remedy the lack of appropriate protection of scientifically important geological and geomorphological resources, a geoconservation program must be initiated, and deficiencies in environmental policies addressed. The purpose of our research is to develop methods and applications for evaluating and managing earth science sites, and to suggest specific policy reform to help accommodate such efforts.
A: A 1993 view of a large exposure of a Lake Bonneville delta at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake City. This has also served as a quarry site for sand and gravel.
B: By 1994, the sloping fronts of the delta were remolded and regraded for conversion to a county golf course. Presently the area is covered with manicured grass, and houses are rapidly being built along the available paleo-shorelines just behind and overlooking the golf course. Photos from Chan and Milligan, 1985
Our research on geologic landforms created by Pleistocene Lake Bonneville is the first systematic attempt in the United States to apply geoconservation methods of identification, evaluation and management. We propose that well-preserved sites of unique geologic value be appointed as Geoantiquity Heritage Areas, much in the same fashion as sites preserved for their cultural antiquities. A Geoantiquity Heritage Area designation would not only protect the scientific integrity of pristine geologic sites but would also provide valuable real estate for a multitude of educational, historical and recreational uses. For example, researchers have used the Stockton Bar to determine the detailed history of what happened when Lake Bonneville was rising to its highest level. They have, in turn, communicated this knowledge to the community through school field trips, teacher workshops, local publications and public hearings.
Geologic time, human time
Humans can be agents of erosion and other processes leading to irreversible
change. The impact of humans can be permanent, and the loss of geoantiquities
is an impending reality, particularly near cities where land is privately owned
and urban growth is rapid. Human impact on geoantiquities can be dramatic over
time periods of just a few years, or happen over longer scales of decades to
Loose, unconsolidated sediments are readily available sources of sand and gravel for urban needs, but are easily disturbed and vulnerable to removal or burial, particularly in areas with high growth rates, such as Utah's Wasatch Front, which extends along the active Wasatch fault and crosses through urban areas such as Salt Lake City.
Human activity here has already claimed some geoantiquities. It took only a few years for high-end homes and housing tracts to encroach upon a quarry that was once on the fringes of Salt Lake City. As a gravel quarry, it displayed fine examples of large foresets, the sloping fronts of the lake's deltas. But with the encroaching urbanization it was rapidly regraded, seeded with grass, and turned into a golf course. Consequently, gravel operations relocated to other previously pristine geoantiquities. This progression demonstrates the changes that can happen to geoantiquities within just a few years.
Another example of the rapid degradation of geoantiquities is the case of the Warm Springs fan. This deposit was a small, post-Bonneville alluvial fan that Gilbert's team studied and drew in 1890. The fan was deposited over approximately 10,000 years, but it took mere decades for the deposits to be removed and for the area to be developed as an industrial park. Thus, the anthropogenic rate of removal is approximately two to three orders of magnitude greater than the natural rate of deposition.
If we or others had begun this geoantiquity research several decades ago, the scientific and educational values of this fan might have at least been identified and made known. With the fan removed, all that remain for scientific study are pictures and descriptions such as Gilbert's.
Building partnerships for the future
now focuses on compiling an inventory of geoantiquities in the Lake Bonneville
area. Planning commissions and special interest groups are aware of our efforts
and have contacted us for scientific information when development projects have
threatened to alter the landscape. An inventory is a key tool in the preservation
process, as it can help in prioritizing sites and identifying those most valuable
to science and education.
Partnerships between geologists and local and national governing bodies, special interest groups, community organizations, scientists and educational leaders are vital for raising awareness of geoantiquities, and can lead to protection and integration of geoantiquities heritage areas in urban planning. Implementation and evaluation of partnerships provide a model that can be transferred to other projects in the region and nationally.
A: The Stockton Bar (view to the northeast) depicted by Grove Karl Gilbert in the 1890 U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 1.
B: The Stockton Bar today (same view looking northeast). It remains relatively intact, with excellent potential to be a geoantiquities heritage area worth saving and preserving. Images supplied courtesy of Marjorie Chan, University of Utah.
We are working with groups such as the Salt Lake County geologist's office, which is putting in a county park near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon that overlooks glacial landform geoantiquities. Through our research, we can help emphasize the scientific value of the geoantiquities using interpretive signs. The Utah Museum of Natural History will be constructing a new "green" building that will be close to the Bonneville Shoreline. We will offer input into how they can plan their building to complement the shoreline, and how they can use this geoantiquity in part of their educational outreach to visitors.
Education is an important tool for implementing geoconservation. Teachers can instigate change as they interact with the many youth who will form our future. Working with Genevieve Atwood, a master teacher and chief education officer for the nonprofit organization Earth Science Education, we offered field workshops for K-12 teachers to promote geoantiquities. Teachers learned what a geoantiquity is, how to recognize one, the scientific relevance of geoantiquities, and the societal and scientific value of geoantiquities. Exercise modules demonstrated how geoantiquities could be integrated with other subjects such as environmental science, ecology, mathematics, chemistry, geography, literature and art. Teachers were positive and enthusiastic about how they could use their neighborhood landscapes in teaching urban geoscience education. We expect that this will continue to be an essential avenue for making the community aware of geoantiquities
Earth science research and information is the foundation of the geoantiquities concept. It can help us provide logical methods of identification, evaluation and designation of sites, which are critical. However, the success of geoconservation equally rests upon the political and educational elements of land-use planning and community involvement. Community support, based on awareness and appreciation of how the landscape records and reveals Earth's history, will be key to the future of geoconservation.