Josh Smith, working as Western Slope Paleontological Services, conducted a paleontological resources monitor during construction of a 95.3-mile-long, 16-inch-diameter natural gas liquids buried pipeline for the Mid-America Pipeline Company Western Expansion II Project in eastern Utah and western Colorado in 2013. The monitor was requested by the Bureau of Land Management (White River, Grand Junction, Vernal, and Moab Field Offices) and the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, with the pipeline located on these and private lands across four counties. Josh efficiently managed this large complex project, including the excavation of dinosaur bones discovered during the monitor, and produced all deliverables to the client on time while successfully providing them compliance with various land management agency requirements across multiple field office areas.

Josh managed a crew of six field agents and assistants, often working at a fast pace in an extended active construction zone, with the monitor producing 10 new fossil localities. Well-preserved dinosaur bones discovered in the pipeline right-of-way prompted an excavation that required heavy machinery, a large crane, and more than 100 man-hours of rocksawing and jackhammering to  complete. Despite the discovery of 10 fossil localities during the project, Josh was able to complete the monitor with no significant work stoppages while keeping the project on schedule.

Paleontological resources monitoring during construction of 95.3 miles of pipeline.

Paleo monitoring crew working among heavy machinery.

Large boulder with dinosaur bones in the right-of-way requiring mitigation.

Hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) vertebrae discovered in sandstone
boulder.