Obsidian

That threat has been out there for the last 20 years, at least. There are several very important ancient camps in the area and the hope was that leaving them unmapped with little road access might keep them safe from looters. Still, there are isolated artifacts all over the place and folks are not supposed to take those, either.

I personally don't recall the issue of closure of the entire area being raised recently, but the possibility of locking some of it up is always going to be out there. Glass Buttes has been an important site for traditional cultures going back 14,000 years or more, and is important for future understanding of the first settlement of the Americas and trading patterns throughout North and Meso America. Could be that abuses are outstripping the ability to patrol, that popularity is resulting in some recent encroachments on the important known archaeological sites, or that some really bad looting has caused the closure idea to be re-floated? I personally haven't seen any local announcements yet. I wouldn't be upset if some of it were fenced off for preservation if that's the only practical solution, but think there is enough room there to keep some areas for rockhounders and knappers if it ever comes to that.