Overview
- The BLM announced the damage on Friday, Nov. 6 and is investigating separate incidents at the Bear Panel along Highway 279 and a panel near Hell’s Revenge in the Sand Flats area.
- Photographs and agency statements show people carved names and graffiti across images including a bear and a bighorn sheep depiction, damaging irreplaceable carved rock art.
- BLM says it will apply specialized conservation treatments in the coming days to remove surface residue but warns that deep incisions in the soft sandstone often cannot be fully erased.
- The sites are protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and penalties can include fines, imprisonment, restitution and bans from public lands as shown by recent prosecutions.
- The panels date to about A.D. 400–1300, matter to descendant tribes and archaeologists, and the BLM is asking anyone with tips to call Moab law enforcement at 435-259-2131.