The document discusses the Burgess Shale site in Yoho National Park, which gained attention after being designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, leading to increased visitor traffic and concerns about theft and damage to fossils. Parks Canada officials are considering fencing the site to protect it from theft, as noted incidents have result in legal consequences for offenders. The Burgess Shale is renowned for its well-preserved fossils, including over 120 species of ancient marine life, and efforts are being made to balance public access with conservation needs.

1. Chris Chang-Yen
Phillips
MA History student
University of Alberta
HCRGSA Conference
March 25, 2022
MAKING SPACE FOR FOSSILS:
HOW THE BURGESS SHALE
CLAIMED A SPOT ON THE
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

2. Mt. Stephen, Yoho National Par
Photo: Kyla Tichkowsky

3. Photo: Kyla
Tichkowsky

4. Map of the Canadian Rocky
Mountain Parks World Heritage
Site, 1990.

5. View of Mt Burgess, near Emerald
Lake. The Walcott Quarry is left of
the frame.

6. 1976 Privy Council of
Canada documents on
Canada’s commitments
to the UNESCO World
Heritage Convention

7. UNESCO World Heritage List
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/&order=year#alpha
1978

13. The Golden Star. “Burgess Shale
Dedicated for Future Generations,”
July 22, 1981.

14. Patton, Brian, and Bart
Robinson. The Canadian
Rockies Trail Guide : A
Hiker’s Manual to the
National Parks. Rev. ed.
Devil’s Head Press, 1978.

15. Butlin, Catherine. “Light-fingered public
pockets fossils.” Calgary Herald, June 12,
1982.
Dewinton
Irvin Lepp. 22, of Rosemary
was sentenced to one month in
jail and fined $2,500 after being
pronounced guilty of theft over
$200 by a Court of Queen's
Bench jury. It began its delibera-
tions Thursday and was seques-
tered overnight.
tions at the Pioneer elevator in
Rosemary, 125 kilometres north-
west of Medicine Hat, between
June. 1978 and August. 1980.
Three days of testimony be-
fore Justice J. B. Dey revolved
around stacks of paper evidence
collected by Calgary RCMP.
their clients were duped by
Rosemary grain elevator opera-
tor John Loftus, who filled in the
men's unused permit books with
false grain purchases.
RCMP told the court Morishita
and Lepp had received about
$88,500 in cash tickets from Lof
permit
The two men knew the prac-
tice to be illegal, but the offence
was a common one in the area
court was told.
Loftus was sentenced June 7
to a jail term of two years less a
day after pleading guilty to five
counts of fraud.
Light-finger- ed
public pockets fossils
ed
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rimary access DOB
By Catherine Butlin
(Herald staff writer)
Attention attracted to ancient
fossil beds in Yoho National Park
since their addition to the United
Nations' World Heritage List has
put them in jeopardy.
Parks Canada officials say they
may have to fence off the
Burgess Shale site,
just north of Field, B.C. to prevent
further thefts and damaging of the
priceless historic treasures.
The number of visitors and
potential thieves to the fossil
beds has nearly doubled since the
publicity that accompanied their
designation as a United Nations'
world heritage site last July, said
chief warden Gordon Rutherford
Friday.
Last year a Calgary man was
charged and convicted under the
National Parks Act for removing a
natural object from a park after
wardens caught him splitting open
specimens from the unique fossil
beds.
The maximum fine for such of-
fences is $500.
The shales, described by scien-
tists as the most perfectly pre-
served fossil site in the world, are a
stiff, eight-kilometr- e hike up a
attempting the tough climb up
Mount Stephen.
The display is located at the
east park information centre during
the summer and at park headquar-
ters in winter.
Five other Canadian sites are on
the UN list of 85 worldwide natural
or historic features listed for preser-
vation and protection by interna-
tional treaty.
More than 120 species of ancient
underwater animals have been
found preserved in the shales, dis-
covered by Charles Doolittle Wal-co- tt
of the Smithsonian Institution
in 1909.
"very steep" shoulder of Mount
Stephen. Rutherford said.
Visitors willing to attempt the
three- - to four-hou- r hike to the
shales, which are liberally sprin-
kled with easily recognizable trilo-bit- e
fossils, must obtain a park
permit from wardens, who have the
authority to do spot checks on re-
turning hikers, he said.
"We don't want to cut the public
off from the fossil beds," he said.
"But we are concerned about their
protection."
Rutherford said Parks Canada
has set up an interpretive display
with samples from the fossil beds
for park visitors not disposed to
1
Nick Pearce, Calgary Herald
ss to planned ski hill
pproved
itions
A m ' - :'l ?;
"14 J,
DAB's order of approval was
ompanied by an extensive list
conditions.
Complete details will not be
eased until Hawkridge receives
opy of the board order, the offi-

16. Adams, Jeff. “Leaves of
Time.” Calgary Herald,
August 14, 1993.

17. Mount Stephen and Walcott Quarry Closure
Notices, Parks Canada 2021.

18. Ovatiovermis cribratus from the
Burgess Shale - artistic representation
by Danielle Dufault.
Paratype of Ovatiovermis cribratus from
the Burgess Shale, Royal Ontario Museum
(ROM) 64006. Scale bar: 2 mm.
Caron, Jean-Bernard, and Cédric Aria. “Cambrian Suspension-Feeding Lobopodians and the Early Radiation of
Panarthropods.” BMC Evolutionary Biology 17, no. 1 (January 31, 2017): 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0858-y.

19. Ovatiovermis fossil feeding motion – Royal Ontario
Museum