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Petition Tag - ichnology
1. Create The New Jersey Track And Trace Museum 
I am presenting to you a petition in the fight to create a museum in the state of New Jersey that is solely dedicated to preserving trace fossils. Trace fossils include anything from dinosaur footprints, insect trails, prehistoric reptile tracks, plant material, occurrences in nature preserved in rocks, etc.
It has been a dream of mine to create a museum dedicated to this cause for a number of reasons. For one, most of the trace fossils found throughout the state of New Jersey are hidden away in private collections and not visible to the public to see or research. Secondly, the State of New Jersey has done very little in the effort to preserve any of the trace fossils found in New Jersey. And third, dinosaur tracks and other trace fossils are very unique to New Jersey and are actually a very rare fossil that is in need of preservation and recognition as a part of New Jersey's historical past. Through this petition I am hoping to gain support enough where we can raise enough money to at least purchase a facility that is open part time to the public as a nonprofit museum for everyone to enjoy, use for research, and educational purposes.
To date, I have one of the largest collections of dinosaur tracks and trace fossils in New Jersey and would like to donate my collection to this museum if it is lifted off the ground. My collection is larger than the State Museum of New Jersey, and to my knowledge any other university or museum in the state. So with your support we can build a museum for all the public to enjoy. To learn more about the museum please go to:
http://www.freewebs.com/njtntm/
2. Save The UBC Dinosaur Track Quarry, West Paterson, NJ
The UBC Quarry in West Paterson, NJ has been a unique fossil locality for scientific research and spectacular fossils from the Passaic formation in the Early Jurassic period of NJ since the 1960's. Many discoveries over the years have yielded a great deal of knowledge to the scientific community in the area of trace fossils (ichnology) during this unique time period.
Large museums and universities have done research projects and collected at the quarry to add to their collections and preserve these fossils. Ironically most of the fossils from this quarry are in private hands and not in a museum for folks to enjoy. The quarry was once an active quarry for many years but now has been sold to a developer to create high end condos that overlook NYC.
The remaining fossils in the quarry will be forever lost if the developers are allowed to demolish the remaining section of the quarry to complete their development. No more fossils from this period will ever be able to be collected again as this is the only place in NJ that has fossils from this time period. Once this section is gone there will be no more science or fossils to be gained. There is one section of the quarry left next to Rifle Camp Park that is of scientific significance that is threatened to be lost forever due to the development of these condos.
Some of the best preserved dinosaur and reptile footprints have been found in this quarry which do not compare to any other locality from New Jersey. Dinosaur tracks and fossil trace fossils have been a very unique, rare, and are an important piece of our fossil history and deserves to be protected. The state of New Jersey has done very little to protect fossil localities compared to other states in the USA and that is why we need your help. Trace fossils are a very important part of the state of New Jersey's history just like Hadrosaurus foulki and deserve to be protected, preserved and enjoyed by future generations. Let's not make this just a memory like other fossil sites in Northern NJ.
Let's make it a preserved site forever. Time is running out and only a few months left till it is gone forever. Thanks.
