Scientists tell us a herd of Columbian mammoths that perished in a flood near the Bosque River were held fixed in time some 65,000 years before their fragile remains were unearthed in spring 1978, prompting a community effort that today stands as the Waco Mammoth Site.

Big question now: Just how long will the site’s proposed status as a national monument be held in limbo, thanks to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s hold on a bill conferring that prestigious designation on the site?

No scientist, political or otherwise, can answer that.

Predictably, the matter boils down to money — specifically, the annual budget of $345,000 or so that would go along with the designation. This federal money would cover such expenses as National Park staffing and signs.

Coburn is a zealous fiscal hawk who regularly expresses understandable outrage over the government’s $13 trillion national debt. It’s not at all surprising he has carved out a reputation for putting holds on legislation he views as unjustifiably increasing our federal deficit.

A Senate hold keeps a bill or nomination from reaching the floor for a vote, sometimes long enough to kill it. For instance, if the monument designation is not conferred this year, the process must begin anew in the next Congress.

And that’s the latest target for Coburn: the bill sponsored by his fellow Republicans, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both of Texas, to make a national monument of the Waco Mammoth Site. Sticking point: The annual $345,000 included in the bill.

Cornyn told me this week that his office continues to reach out to Coburn in hopes of a solution. Even so, Coburn’s hold has definitely unnerved some supporters of the Waco Mammoth Site, including Gloria Young, who worked long and hard raising more than $3 million in our community for this project. And its designation as a national monument is important. It elevates the site’s stature in guidebooks and maps, adds to its legitimacy as a scientific jewel, and guarantees lots more tourists.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, says the funding question can be hammered out later, but Coburn’s office is characteristically skeptical.

Rusty Black, director of the city’s parks and recreation department, suggests we get our priorities straight. His proposal: Go for the designation now, worry about federal funding later.

“We could get by without any money from the federal government,” he told me. “What’s most important to Waco is getting that national designation. I mean, the funding would be nice. We’d like to see the National Park System come in and add an interpretive element. But the designation is the thing.”

He believes the Waco Mammoth National Monument and its location a few miles off busy Interstate 35 will ensure it gets plenty of attention.

From its opening on Dec. 5 till May 31, the site drew 15,739 visitors. Many more are expected this summer. “And right now we’re booked solid on our educational tours,” he said.

The city budgeted $407,164 for the site in 2009-2010. That amount drops sharply next year when $306,714 is budgeted for site operations. Baylor University is also deeply involved, protecting and storing mammoth remains on campus.

Mayor Jim Bush agrees Waco must push for designation status, regardless of federal funding.

“The designation is more important than the money,” Bush said. “Now, obviously, the ongoing money would be of benefit and we really need that long-term. But I think in the political atmosphere we’re in right now, the main goal is just to get the designation, even if it’s unfunded.”

Bush fully acknowledges Coburn’s principles regarding unrestrained federal spending.

“He’s trying to make a point,” Bush said. “But I hate to see our designation go down the tubes just to make a political statement.”

Coburn spokesman John Hart tells me that the senator might lift his hold under the scenario proposed, “but he would still be concerned about creating new designations when the National Park Service can’t manage the land it is currently responsible for.”