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VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
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PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS: A HISTORY
VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
National Park Service
Geologic Resources Division
1849 “C” Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
vincent_santucci@nps.gov
Earth Sciences History
Vol. 36, No. 2, 2017
pp. 245–285
ABSTRACT
The fossil record preserved throughout the National Park Service spans more than a billion
years and is documented in at least 267 park units. The discovery, collection, study, and
resource management of fossils from localities which are currently within parks sometimes
predate the establishment of the National Park Service and many of the parks. Public
education and interpretation at parks such as Agate Fossil Beds and Tule Springs Fossil
Beds national monuments and many other designated areas include information on the rich
history of paleontological field work by notable paleontologists undertaken prior to the
areas being preserved as national park areas. Another important historical aspect for
several dozen parks involves the conservation efforts undertaken by the public and interest
groups to preserve and protect these important fossil localities. The evolution of the
science and methodologies in paleontology is reflected in the resource management
undertaken by the National Park Service and documented in park resource management
records and archives, scientific publications, and agency policy. Today the National Park
Service celebrates fossils by coordinating the National Fossil Day partnership which helps
to promote the scientific and educational value of fossils.
Keywords: National Park Service, paleontology, fossils
doi: 10.17704/1944-6178-36.2.245
1. INTRODUCTION
The history of paleontology is filled with fascinating accounts of discovery and scientific inquiry,
and an evolving understanding of ancient life forms preserved within Earth’s geologic strata. A
portion of this paleontological story is preserved within national parks, monuments and other
administered areas under the care of the U.S. National Park Service. Collectively, at least 267
national park units have revealed fossilized remains and traces of prehistoric animals and plants
as evidence of America’s rich paleontological heritage. Seventeen National Park Service areas
were established through authorizing legislation or proclamation that specifically references
paleontological resources.
The history of paleontology associated with the National Park Service actually predates the
establishment of the first federal parks and the creation of the bureau which administers these
parks. Therefore, this publication considers many sources of historical information pertaining to
fossils from either a geologic or cultural resource context to our national parks. This includes
fossil occurrences from archeological sites which may date from hundreds to thousands of years
ago. For example, projectile points produced from petrified wood have been documented from
archeological sites in a number of parks, including Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New
Mexico, and Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. In addition to fossils that have been
documented in archeological sites, fossils also occur within the building stones of historic
structures, and in various historic or ethnographic contexts (Kenworthy and Santucci 2006).
The information presented in this publication is organized chronologically into six time
periods reflecting the historic significance of the National Park Service paleontological resources.
These divisions are: 1) ‘Pre-Columbian Period’ (pre-1492 AD); 2) ‘Colonial & Early National
Period’ between first European settlement in the New World through the end of the eighteenth
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
246
century (1492–1800); 3) ‘Antebellum through American Civil War Period’ between the
beginning of the nineteenth century to the end of the American Civil War (1800–1865); 4) ‘Early
National Parks & Monuments Period’ between the end of the American Civil War through the
establishment of the National Park Service (1865–1916); 5) ‘First 50 Years of the National Park
Service Period’ between the establishment of the National Park Service and its 50th anniversary
(1916–1966); and, 6) ‘Second 50 Years of the National Park Service Period’ between the 50th and
the 100th anniversary (Centennial) of the National Park Service (1966–2016).
A long list of distinguished paleontologists, scientists and other notable figures
accompanies the history of paleontology associated with the National Park Service. During the
nineteenth century, Joseph Leidy (Academy of Natural Sciences and University of Pennsylvania),
Othniel Charles Marsh (Yale University), Edward Drinker Cope (University of Pennsylvania),
Spencer Baird (Smithsonian Institution), Charles Doolittle Walcott (Smithsonian Institution and
U.S. Geological Survey), John Wesley Powell (U.S. Geological Survey), and others were
involved in the field collection, scientific study, or curation of important fossils from areas now
managed by the National Park Service. These paleontologists are just a small sample of the
famous scientists who were directly involved with fossil research and discoveries from parks
during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
This summary represents the first attempt to compile the collective histories of
paleontology for the U.S. National Park Service. Given the rich and extensive history of
paleontology associated with at least 267 national parks, it is not possible to present in-depth
discussions for any particular park, discovery, individual or historical event. The primary intent
here is to provide a framework for organizing and presenting the extensive amount of historical
information and to illustrate some of the significant paleontological history tied to National Park
Service fossils.
2. PRE-COLUMBIAN PERIOD (LATE PLEISTOCENE TO 1492)
The question of how far back in time to begin a historical review of paleontology and the national
parks is worth consideration. In the broadest sense and interpretation, the study of paleontology is
a human undertaking involving fossils. In North America, there is evidence of human interactions
with fossils that date back thousands of years. Archeological discoveries demonstrate and
document the use of paleontological specimens by prehistoric Native Americans. Projectile points
manufactured from petrified wood and tools fashioned from fossil bones or shells are not
uncommon in the archeological record. Fossils used to produce what appears to be jewelry,
effigies and spiritual objects are contained in archeological collections, including collections
maintained by the National Park Service (Kenworthy and Santucci 2006).
This historical overview of National Park Service paleontology includes information
which extends back to the earliest evidence of humans in North America during the Late
Pleistocene. One of the oldest well-dated records of humans in North America, referred to as
‘Arlington Springs Man’, was found on Santa Rosa Island which is part of Channel Islands
National Park, California (Orr 1962). There is a wealth of scientific literature concerning
archeological sites in North America that yield evidence of interactions between Paleoindians and
Late Pleistocene megafauna (Haynes 1966; Agenbroad 1980; Fisher 1984, 1987; Fox et al. 1992;
Hoppe 2004). The decision to include fossils from archeological sites, exhibiting use or alteration
by humans, in this paper is based on several factors. First, these specimens preserve interesting
and important historic information pertaining to fossils which may be useful in research or public
education. Additionally, the presentation of this information may result in other investigators
recognizing, documenting and reporting on similar occurrences of fossils which show evidence of
human use or alteration. Finally, the intent of this paper is to establish a comprehensive
framework for future study related to the history of National Park Service paleontology and thus
the widest scope of potential sources of data and information has been included. Therefore, this
section titled ‘Pre-Columbian Period’ is inclusive of information which spans between the first
VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
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migrations of humans into the New World sometime during the Late Pleistocene until the arrival
of European explorers in the late fifteenth century.
2.1 Fossils discovered in an archeological context
Kenworthy and Santucci (2006) presented an inventory of paleontological resources within
cultural resource contexts documented from National Park Service areas. Relevant occurrences
exist throughout the United States and take many forms. A number of parks in the Four Corners
area of the American Southwest maintain collections of fossils, primarily petrified wood, which
exhibit evidence of use or modifications by humans. Many of these specimens were obtained
through archeological surveys undertaken in parks including: Canyon de Chelly National
Monument and Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona; Mesa Verde National Park in
Colorado; and Aztec Ruins National Monument, Bandelier National Monument, Chaco Culture
National Historical Park and Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in New Mexico.
Humans have been present in the American Southwest for at least 12,000 years (Haynes
1969; Martin 1973; Meltzer 1983; Hurt 1990). Thousands of individual specimens of human-
modified petrified wood have been collected from National Park Service areas in the Four
Corners area. The National Park Service curatorial records associated with these collections
identify the petrified wood artifacts as projectile points, scrapers, bifaces, knives, flakes, cores,
gravers, burins, drills, hammerstones, choppers, pecking stones, abraders, polishing stones, and
debitage (Tweet et al. 2009). A few ornamental or ceremonial objects made from fossils are also
within the collections of the southwestern parks, including pendants from Aztec Ruins National
Monument and Petrified Forest National Park, a bracelet from Chaco Culture National Historical
Park; and effigies carved into fossil invertebrates including a bird effigy carved into a fossil
brachiopod from Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (Hayes et al. 1981) (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Bird effigy carved into a fossil brachiopod from Salinas Pueblo Missions National
Monument, New Mexico. Specimen in the National Park Service collections at the
Western Archeological and Conservation Center. (Photograph by J. Tweet)
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
248
Similar pre-Columbian artifacts made from fossils have been documented from National
Park Service areas in the central portion of the United States. Hopewell Culture National
Historical Park, Ohio, has collections of fossil shark teeth and other fossils discovered in the
mortuary offerings of prehistoric Native Americans. Thirteen fossil shark teeth are believed to
have been incorporated into a necklace. Age dating of these archeological resources indicates
these artifacts date between 200 BC to AD 500, during the Middle Woodland period. At Effigy
Mounds National Monument, Iowa, a collection of crinoid columnals were discovered in a
rockshelter. These fossil remains suggest the crinoids were used as jewelry objects by prehistoric
Woodland Period Indians (Hunt et al. 2008).
George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Virginia, is an example of an eastern
park which preserves pre-Columbian occurrences of fossils showing evidence of humans being
aware of these resources and possibly handling or using them in some manner. Fossil shark teeth
have been documented in direct association with shell middens at the monument. The middens
date to the Late Archaic (approximately 5,000–3,200 years before present), Middle Woodland
(approximately 2,500–1,100 years before present), and Late Woodland (approximately 1,100–400
years before present) periods. Fossil shark teeth are commonly found in the Calvert Formation
(Miocene) which is exposed in the monument (R. Morawe, personal communication, 2005).
The documentation of fossils associated with pre-Columbian humans may provide
evidence of long-distance transport and trade between prehistoric cultures. Many fossil taxa have
limited geographic occurrences. The discovery of fossils in geographic areas which are far from
the geologic strata in which the fossils were preserved may yield important historic and
archeological information about ancient populations and their activities. Fossil Glycymeris (clam)
shells found at Snaketown, an archeological site at Hohokam Pima National Monument, Arizona,
are believed to have been procured from the Gulf of Mexico (Haury 1976).
3. COLONIAL AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD (1492–1800)
This period spans from the earliest sustained exploration of the New World by Europeans (1492)
through the end of the eighteenth century. This portion of American history encompasses the
exploration, colonialization, conflict, independence, birth and early organization of a new nation.
This period extends up to the eve of the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and significant fossil
discoveries on lands that would later be managed by the National Park Service.
3.1 The first published fossils from the New World
Long before the United States was an independent country and even longer before there was a US
National Park Service, a remarkable fossil story was unfolding during the colonial period. During
the late seventeenth century, fossils were collected from the bluffs and cliffs along the James and
York rivers, lands which would later be included within Colonial National Historical Park. The
fossils were shipped back to Europe for sale to collectors of natural history objects and some
were eventually curated into European museums and other institutions. Information about this
early fossil collecting was discovered while conducting research to gather baseline
paleontological resource data for the national parks in the Eastern Seaboard states and the
Atlantic Coastal Plain. These fossils hold an important place in the history of American
paleontology.
The fossil-rich strata of the Virginia Coastal Plain and the shell beds along the cliffs of the
James River, not far from colonial Jamestown, were well known to the local English settlers.
These fossil beds (Pliocene Yorktown Formation) were a source of lime for producing mortar
used in construction and are referenced in documents prepared by William Strachey, the first
secretary of Jamestown, and by early naturalists John Banister and John Clayton (Ray 1983).
Fossils and other natural history specimens were often collected by cartographers and seamen as
objects to bring back to Europe to sell to naturalists or private collectors (Kenworthy and
Santucci 2003).
VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
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The fossil mollusks from the Virginia coastline and James River came to the attention of
English naturalist and physician Martin Lister. In 1687, Lister published an illustration of one of
the Yorktown Formation bivalve fossils (Pecten) in Historiae Conchyliorum (Lister 1687; Ward
and Blackwelder 1975; Ray 1987; Tweet et al. 2014). The significance of Lister’s 1687
publication is likely more historic than scientific, as this work represents not only the first figured
fossil specimen from a national park, but also the first figured fossil from America, the New
World, and the Western Hemisphere (Figure 2)!
Figure 2. Martin Lister’s 1687 illustration of a fossil shell later known as
Chesapecten jeffersonius, as reproduced in Ward and Blackwelder (1975).
During the aftermath of the American Revolution, the fossils from along the James River
and the Yorktown Battlefield area (later to become part of Colonial National Historical Park)
continued to draw the attention of scientifically minded soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
American General Benjamin Lincoln, who served at the siege of Yorktown, reported the presence
of fossilized cockles (bivalves), clams, and other shells in several different layers exposed in the
steep banks (Lincoln 1783). The German naturalist Johann David Schöpf, who served as a
physician for the British Hessian troops, visited Yorktown in 1783 and noted the shell beds and
probable fragments of whale bones (Ray 1983).
An additional note of interest related to the history of paleontology is tied to Colonial
National Historical Park. Thomas Say described and published on a number of invertebrate
fossils from the Yorktown Formation near Colonial National Historical Park (Say 1822, 1824). In
1824 Thomas Say formally described, named and published on Lister’s fossil Pecten originally
published in 1687, and assigned the genus and species Pecten jeffersonius in recognition of
President Thomas Jefferson’s great interest in fossils (Say 1824). The genus was renamed
Chesapecten approximately 150 years later (Ward and Blackwelder 1975), and in 1993 the
Commonwealth of Virginia designated Chesapecten jeffersonius as the state fossil.
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
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3.2 Mastodon tooth mystery from Ben Franklin’s home in Philadelphia
A single fossil specimen in the museum collections of Independence National Historical Park,
Pennsylvania, represents a little-known history about our founding fathers and their interests in
fossils. Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and some of their contemporaries found fossilized
remains of ancient animals to be fascinating natural history curiosities during a period of
intellectual enlightenment. In 1767, Benjamin Franklin received some fossilized mastodon bones
and teeth collected by a western lands speculator and Indian Agent named George Groghan.
In 1953, a mastodon molar was discovered in the basement of Franklin’s home on Market
Street in Philadelphia. The home was built by Franklin in 1786 and today is part of the area
referred to as Franklin Court within Independence National Historical Park. Franklin lived in
Philadelphia while serving in the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention and
used the home as a rental property. The mastodon tooth is the only fossil within the large museum
collection for Independence National Historical Park.
4. ANTEBELLUM THROUGH THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR PERIOD (1800–1865)
Prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865), dreams of western expansion and the vast
resources west of the Mississippi River motivated the people and leaders of the young nation. The
Lewis and Clark Expedition, Louisiana Purchase, Mexican War and first migrations of pioneers
across the western plains were collectively part of a manifest destiny shaping America during the
nineteenth century. This was a formative period for the science of paleontology with early fossil
discoveries capturing the attention of naturalists, geologists, political leaders and the public. Early
fossil collections were routed to the handful of notable paleontologists and were directed to early
museum and university collections for study and display.
4.1 Establishment of Peale’s Museum in Philadelphia
The first recognized natural history museum in the United States was established by artist and
naturalist Charles Willson Peale in Philadelphia. Originally known as the Philadelphia Museum,
and later named Peale’s American Museum, the museum collection was located on the second
floor of Independence Hall (known at the time as the Pennsylvania State House) between 1802
and 1827 (Schofield 1989). Peale’s museum exhibited his paintings of political and military
leaders, as well as a large collection of natural history objects including fossils and a mastodon
skeleton. This is an interesting footnote in the history of National Park Service paleontology,
since Independence Hall is administered by the National Park Service as part of Independence
National Historic Park.
4.2 Lewis and Clark Expedition discovers fossils:
President Thomas Jefferson may well have had the Peale mastodon in mind when he
commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark to lead the first
American expedition to explore the western territories. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also
known as the Corps of Discovery, was sanctioned shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Among Jefferson’s instructions was a request to keep alert for mammoths, living or dead. The
perilous journey began in May 1804 and lasted through September 1806. The expedition passed
through a number of important fossil localities including Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, and the Falls
of the Ohio fossil site, Indiana. Although no living mastodon was encountered, one important
fossil specimen was collected from lands which would later be part of the National Park Service.
This discovery was a fossilized jaw with teeth from a Cretaceous fish collected on August 1804
by a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The fossil fish was discovered near Soldier’s
River (Harlan 1824), a tributary of the Missouri River and now a landmark along the Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail.
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By the 1820s, the scientific understanding and acceptance of fossils had become more
widespread and some of the first scientific descriptions of fossils from future National Park
Service lands were emerging. The fossil fish jaw discovered in 1804 during the first months of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition was described twenty years later and named Saurocephalus
lanciformis in 1824 (Harlan 1824). Today this holotype fossil specimen is in the collections of the
Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. This is the only known surviving fossil collected
by the Corps of Discovery and is also the oldest fossil that can be reliably attributed to an area
administered by the National Park Service.
4.3 Early fossil discoveries at Vicksburg
French naturalist Charles A. Lesueur is credited for the first scientific documentation of fossils
from Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi, in 1829, but his observations were not
published until after his death (Dockery 1982; Kenworthy et al. 2007). British geologist Charles
Lyell also collected fossil shells and corals from the Vicksburg Group from an area now within
Vicksburg National Military Park on 19 March 1846 (Lyell 1849).
4.4 Mountain man Jim Bridger’s claims of “peetrified trees” in Yellowstone
It has been proposed that mountain man Jim Bridger’s report of the fossil forests of Yellowstone
during the 1830s represents the first encounters of these resources by an American explorer.
Bridger’s accounts of Yellowstone’s fossil forest were embellished by him and others as they
were passed down over the years, but they provided an interesting example of the cultural history
associated with these paleontological resources. According to one version of Bridger’s tale,
. . . peetrified birds a sittin’ on peetrified trees a singin’ peetrified songs in the peetrified air. The
flowers and leaves and grass was peetrified, and they shone in a peculiar moonlight . . . that was
peetrified too (Chapman and Chapman 1935, p. 383).
These colorful legends captured the attention of other explorers who journeyed into Yellowstone
later in the century.
4.5 Early fossil discoveries in the White River Badlands
One of the most important and interesting historical stories tied to National Park Service
paleontology involves early collecting of fossils in the ‘mauvaises terres’ or ‘badlands’ of the
Dakota Territory starting in the 1840s. The area is also referred to as the White River Badlands
and has come to be known for the globally significant paleontological resources from the Eocene
and Oligocene epochs of North America. The report and publication of fossil vertebrates from
these prehistoric hunting grounds are linked to the birth of vertebrate paleontology as a science in
North America. Some of the historically and scientifically important fossil localities in the White
River Badlands are found today within Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
In 1843, a fossilized lower jaw with molars was collected in the badlands by a fur trader
named Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Company. This fossil specimen was
transported back to St. Louis and into the hands of a physician named Dr. Hiram A. Prout (Figure
3). In 1846, Prout published a description and illustration of the jaw in the American Journal of
Science, referring to the specimen as ‘Palaeotherium’ based on a European fossil mammal which
appeared similar (Prout 1846). The publication of ‘Prout’s specimen’ captured the attention of the
small community of paleontologists in the United States at that time, including Joseph Leidy
(Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia) and Spencer Baird (Dickinson College and
Smithsonian Institution), prompting the first wave of a ‘fossil rush’ in the American west.
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
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Figure 3. Lower jaw referred to as ‘Prout’s Palaeotherium Specimen’ collected by fur trader Alexander Culbertson from
the White River Badlands in 1843. USNM 21820. (Photo – Vincent Santucci).
Additional fossils collected by Alexander Culbertson were studied and described by Dr.
Joseph Leidy including the skull of the camel Poebrotherium (Leidy 1847). Leidy has been
considered the ‘Father of Vertebrate Paleontology in North America’ and studied White River
Badlands fossils early in his career. A series of geology and paleontology surveys ventured into
the Dakota Badlands beginning with John Evans’s scientific expedition in 1849. Alexander
Culbertson’s brother Thaddeus was hired by Spencer Baird to collect White River Badlands
fossils for him while he was a professor at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. With Baird’s
move to the Smithsonian, the fossils were also forwarded to Washington, D.C. Field parties led
by Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden and Fielding Bradford Meek during the 1850s resulted in
additional collections of fossil vertebrates (O’Harra 1920; Benton et al. 2015).
Joseph Leidy described many of the new fossils coming out of the Dakota Territory,
(O’Harra 1920; Benton et al. 2015). By 1854, Joseph Leidy had named 84 new species of fossil
vertebrates from North America; all but seven were based on fossils collected in the White River
Badlands (Leidy 1853, 1869; Benton et al. 2105).
Faculty and students from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid
City, South Dakota, have a long history of geology and paleontology field work in the White
River Badlands dating back to 1899, and its Museum of Geology maintains one of the largest and
most diverse collections of fossils from the Badlands acquired over more than a century of
fieldwork. Similar fossils of mammals and turtles were observed by pioneers traveling the
emigrant trail passing Scott’s Bluff (today within Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska)
during the middle 1840s.
4.6 Reports of fossils during surveys in the southwestern territories
The first expeditions in the southwestern part of America began shortly after the end of the
Mexican-American War of 1846–1848. The first plant fossil collected for scientific purposes in
the Southwest was recovered from Canyon de Chelly by a military expedition led by Lieutenant
J. H. Simpson on 5 September 1849 (Simpson 1852), likely within the modern boundaries of
Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The expedition led by Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves is
credited with the first documentation of the petrified wood from within a few miles of the
‘Arizona Petrified Forest’ on 9 September 1851. A federal government expedition led by
VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
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Lieutenant Amiel W. Whipple named Lithodendron Creek in December 1853 (located today
within Petrified Forest National Park) (Ash 1972).
4.7 Reports of fossils from Alaska
One of the earliest historical accounts of fossil collecting in Alaska dates back to the 1850s, prior
to the United States’ purchase of Alaska from Russia on 30 March 1867. Russian explorer and
mining engineer Peter Doroschin made significant collections of fossils from a locality in south-
central Alaska along the coast near Tuxedni Bay. This important locality was later named Fossil
Point and today is within the boundaries of Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. Doroschin’s
fossil collections were shipped to the Russian capital at St. Petersburg where they were ultimately
studied, described and illustrated by Russian paleontologist Eduard von Eichwald (Eichwald
1871). The rich and well-preserved Middle Jurassic marine invertebrate fauna from Fossil Point,
recognized during the mid-nineteenth century when the area was part of Russian America, has
continued to be the focus of scientific evaluation (Stanton and Martin 1905; Martin 1926; Imlay
1964; Detterman and Hartsock 1966; Blodgett and Santucci 2014; Blodgett et al. 2015).
4.8 Report of fossils from the western territories
Benjamin Franklin Shumard, like Hiram Prout, was another prominent member of the St. Louis
scientific circle. He is noted for his geological publications during the 1850s. Shumard worked in
several areas now designated as national parks including: Santa Fe National Historic Trail,
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and Mississippi National River & Recreation Area.
Shumard was one of the organizers involved with the first government-sponsored geological
surveys, at the state, territory, and federal levels. This group also included David Dale Owen,
James Hall, Fielding Bradford Meek, and Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, and were particularly
active during the 1850s. These geologists documented the rocks and fossils of many midwestern
and southwestern parks. In addition to Badlands National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National
Park, Mississippi National River & Recreation Area, and Santa Fe National Historic Trail, they
worked in the Missouri National Recreational River, Niobrara National Scenic River, and St.
Croix National Scenic River during the pre-Civil War expeditions. Owen and Shumard died
during the 1860s, but the others remained active into the 1870s.
4.9 Early dinosaur discovery at Springfield Armory
The first report of a dinosaur fossil associated with a National Park Service unit dates to the
1850s. In 1855, blasting for the Water Shops at Springfield Armory in Massachusetts (now
Springfield Armory National Historic Site) uncovered the remains of a small Lower Jurassic
dinosaur (Santucci 1998a). The remains were sent to Edward Hitchcock, the pioneering
paleoichnologist and president of Amherst College, and were described by his son Edward Jr. as
Megadactylus polyzelus in 1865 (Hitchcock 1865). Taxonomic revision of the specimen from
Springfield Armory resulted in the assignment of the genus Anchisaurus (Tweet and Santucci
2011).
4.10 Mammoth remains discovered on the Channel Islands
A single mammoth tooth and a poorly preserved tusk were discovered on Santa Rosa Island,
California, by W. G. Blunt in 1856 (Stearns 1873). Blunt was involved with a geodetic survey of
the Channel Islands between 1853 and 1856 (Roth 1996). This represents the earliest report of
mammoth remains from the Channel Islands, which is now a unit of the National Park Service.
The mammoth tooth was given to the California Academy of Sciences and it was determined later
that the mammoth remains on the Channel Islands were pygmy mammoths (Agenbroad 1998).
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
254
4.11 Reports of fossils on the southern Colorado River
During the 1857–1858 J. C. Ives expedition along the Colorado River, John Strong Newberry
discovered the first fossils from the area which is now within Lake Mead National Recreation
Area, Nevada. Newberry (1861) reported finding a single mammoth tooth at the base of a hill on
the east side of the Colorado River (today the locality is along the Lake Mohave arm below
Hoover Dam). The hill is now known as ‘Elephant Hill’ in reference to the mammoth tooth
discovery. Newberry also reported reworked Paleozoic fossils in rocks observed along the
Colorado River.
4.12 Union soldiers collect fossils during the Civil War
By 1861, the country was embroiled in a civil war and the focus of the people was redirected
towards the national crisis and military conflict. There are a few interesting historical accounts of
fossils during the American Civil War. Fort Washington Park is situated along the bank of the
Potomac River south of Washington, D.C. The fort was one of the federal defenses of the capital
city where Union soldiers were stationed during the war. One of the soldiers, named Valentine
Sticher, wrote about life at the fort between April and July 1861, the first months of the war.
There are two entries in Sticher’s diary which refer to fossil collecting at Fort Washington
(Thompson 1910):
June 10, 1861, Lieutenant Nagle, Wallace, and myself went up to ravine to look for petrified shells.
. . . July 11, 1861, Cambell, Atkins, and Hartz started for Washington. Weather fine. Went up ravine
again; found turtle heads (folk name for Cucullaea gigantae fossils). [H]ard work to dig them out.
Dobson, Esterly, and Judge Foster came. (Thompson 1910, p. 105).
One final Civil War period historical note involving National Park Service fossils is linked
to the western explorer and U.S. Geological Survey director, John Wesley Powell. During the
siege at Vicksburg, Powell collected fossils from earthworks on the battlefield (now within
Vicksburg National Military Park) in 1863 while serving for the Union Army (Moring 2002).
5. EARLY NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS PERIOD (1865–1916)
This period spans from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 through the creation in 1916
of the National Park Service as a bureau within the Department of the Interior. The period is
marked by a renewed interest in westward expansion and exploration of new resources and
opportunities. With increasing visitation and settlement in the west, the natural landscape was
becoming more modified by development, exploitation of resources and conflict with Native
Americans and earlier settlers. The voices of conservation and preservation of natural and cultural
resources recognized the need to protect sensitive archeological sites and natural wilderness. The
establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 gave birth to an idea that flourished during
the beginning of the twentieth century with the passage of the Antiquities Act (1906) and the
creation of the National Park Service (1916).
This post-Civil War period is a colorful time for American paleontology with some
academic rivalries and competition pertaining to the new fossil discoveries from the western
territories. The famous ‘Bone Wars’ waged between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles
Marsh have become legendary tales based upon the bitter scientific feud. Other individuals
worked more independently in more remote locations of the western frontier to uncover the
fossilized remains of ancient organisms previously unknown. Thomas Condon is one of the
pioneer paleontologists who searched for fossils in the John Day Basin (later established as John
Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon) beginning in the 1860s.
The history of paleontology associated with the National Park Service during this period
often includes stories which predate the concept of the Service and the establishment of specific
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areas as national parks. However, it is important to remember that on some occasions
scientifically significant fossil localities in the American West are part of areas later designated as
national parks or monuments. Once a fossil locality is transferred and incorporated into lands
administered by the National Park Service, the management, protection and stewardship of the
paleontological resources becomes its responsibility.
5.1 The Great Surveys of the western territories yield fossils and inspire ‘America’s Best Idea’
After the American Civil War, there was a renewed focus by the United States government
directed towards the resources of the western territories. Congress supported the funding of a
series of scientific surveys to map and document the west between 1867 and 1879. The four
‘Great Surveys’ of the American West were primarily focused on the territories west of the 100th
meridian and were led by Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, Clarence King, Major John Wesley Powell,
and Lt. George Wheeler (Bartlett 1980).
The U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories was led by geologist and
surgeon Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden between 1867 and 1878. The ‘Hayden Survey’ was a scientific
expedition which explored northwestern Wyoming including the Yellowstone region and the
headwaters of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. Hayden recruited artist Thomas Moran and
photographer William Henry Jackson to accompany the survey team into Yellowstone and
visually document the resources and landscapes. These images and illustrations complemented
the scientific reports and descriptions of the flora, fauna and geology of Yellowstone. In
December 1871, bills were introduced in the U.S. Congress to preserve Yellowstone as a national
park. On 1 March 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Yellowstone National
Park Protection Act (17 Stat. 32) creating the world’s first national park and what is considered
by some ‘America’s Best Idea’.
The first fossil collections from the area now within Yellowstone National Park, in
Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, are attributed to the Hayden Survey of 1871. The fossil leaves
obtained during the expedition were studied and described by paleobotanist Leo Lesquereux
(Lesquereux 1872). William Henry Holmes accompanied the Hayden Survey and was the first to
report the occurrence of petrified wood near Junction Butte and in the cliffs of the Lamar River
Valley, the first to interpret the existence of successively buried fossils forests in Yellowstone,
and the first to report invertebrate fossils from Yellowstone (Holmes 1878, 1879). In 1878
Holmes accompanied cartographer Henry Gannett to the summit of the peak now named Mount
Holmes, where they found marine fossils, including trilobites, on a ridge just below the summit
that was later named Trilobite Point (Santucci 1998b).
The U.S. Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel was led by civilian scientist
Clarence King between 1867 and 1878. This survey was sponsored by the U.S. Army and
focused on producing maps and scientific reports on the resources along the fortieth parallel from
northeastern California, through Nevada, and into the eastern Wyoming Territory. King also
evaluated mineral resource potential during mapping and evaluation of resources.
The U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian was led by First Lieutenant
George Montague Wheeler between 1869 and 1879. The ‘Wheeler Survey’ was administered
under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1869, Wheeler’s expedition visited the area now
within Great Basin National Park, Nevada, and in 1871 visited areas now part of Grand Canyon
National Park, Arizona, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona and Nevada, but only
small collections of fossils were made.
The U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region was led by
Major John Wesley Powell between 1869 and 1879. During the Civil War Powell was involved at
the siege at Vicksburg and documented fossils from some exposed strata in the fortifications
trenches. Powell would become the second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and served
between 1881 and 1894.
The ‘Powell Survey’ was a legendary adventure down the Green and Colorado rivers and
through the Grand Canyon. In 1870 Powell obtained funding from Congress to support his river
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trip which started in Green River, Wyoming Territory. Powell is credited with the collection of a
fossil coral specimen near Echo Park and Split Mountain Canyon, an area which is now within
Dinosaur National Monument. The specimen represents the holotype specimen for the fossil coral
Amplexus zaphrentiformis (White 1876), and it was discovered nearly half a century before the
first dinosaurs were reported from the area now within Dinosaur National Monument.
5.2 Excavation of Ice Age fossils from Port Kennedy Bone Cave
Port Kennedy Bone Cave is an important Pleistocene fossil locality which was uncovered and
excavated in 1870 and again in 1896. The ‘cave’, likely representing a sinkhole that many
animals fell into, is located within what is now Valley Forge National Historical Park,
Pennsylvania. More than 1,200 fossil specimens were collected during the quarrying of Port
Kennedy Bone Cave and they are curated into the collections at the Academy of Natural Sciences
in Philadelphia and the American Museum of Natural History in New York (Daeschler et al.
1993). The fossils were originally studied and described by paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope
(Cope 1871, 1899; Mercer 1899). Cope named 39 species of Pleistocene vertebrates collected
from Port Kennedy Bone Cave, including several well-known taxa such as Smilodon gracilis
(saber tooth cat) and several species of Megalonyx (ground sloth).
5.3 Early fossil discoveries from the Florissant Fossil Beds
The diverse and exceptionally well-preserved plant and insect fossils of Florissant (the area later
designated as Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument) in Colorado came to light during the
early scientific surveys of the American West. In 1873, Arthur C. Peale, the geologist for the
Hayden Survey, wrote
When the mountains are overthrown and the seas uplifted, the universe at Florissant flings itself
against a gnat and preserves it. (Peale 1873).
The early collections of fossils from Florissant for Princeton University in 1877 and the
government surveys resulted in many scientific publications describing the fossil plants
(Lesquereux 1878, 1883), fossil insects (Scudder 1890, 1900), and fossil vertebrates (Cope 1875).
Between 1906 and 1908, Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell made fossil collections that resulted in
nearly 130 publications on the paleontology of the Florissant Fossil Beds (Cockerell 1908a,
1908b).
5.4 Fossils discovered in the Big Bend area
The Trans-Pecos area of Texas, which would later become part of Big Bend National Park, has a
long and rich history of paleontological exploration, collecting, and research. Reports of fossils
from the area date back to the late 1880s with collections of fossil invertebrates and invertebrates
made by the ‘Dumble Survey’ of 1888 (Dumble 1895). Geologist John Udden mapped, studied,
and described the Cretaceous strata of the Big Bend region in 1907 (Udden 1907). Udden
reported the occurrence of petrified logs and the remains of what he referred to as ‘saurian bones’
from the Rattlesnake Beds.
5.5 Investigation of the Bone Bed at Agate Ranch
A rich paleontological history is associated with the Agate Springs Ranch, which would later be
preserved as Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. The ranch has sometimes been
referred to as the ‘Great Bone Bed at Agate’ where the fossils were discovered in the 1880s by
James H. Cook and his wife Kate (Cockrell 1986). The locality was visited by some of the most
notable paleontologists during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and helped define
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the understanding of Miocene fossil vertebrates in North America. James Cook invited many
paleontologists to the ranch to dig and study the fossils, including Othniel Charles Marsh (Yale
University) and Edward Drinker Cope (from Philadelphia) (Vetter 2008).
James and Kate's first son, Harold James Cook, was born in 1887 and exhibited great
interest in fossils from an early age. In 1892 Harold assisted paleontologist Erwin Barbour
(University of Nebraska) excavate a large fossil burrow referred to as Daemonelix, now known
to have been produced by ancient rodents (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Miocene age Daemonelix burrows from the Miocene at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska.
(Photograph by James St. John - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37027739. With
permission from the Archives and Special Collections of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries)
Between 1904 and 1925, the fossil hills and quarries of Agate Ranch were visited by field
crews from the American Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, Carnegie Museum,
University of Nebraska and Yale University (Peterson 1906; Loomis 1910; Matthew 1923).
Fossil excavations yielded thousands of mostly mammal bones. Eventually, the increasing
number of paleontologists working at the ranch led to some rivalry between the institutions.
Harold enjoyed working with everyone and in 1905 began to work closely with Olaf Peterson
from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Harold also continued to work with Erwin Barbour
from the University of Nebraska and was accepted as a student in their Geology Department in
1908 (Cockrell 1986).
In 1909, Harold was visited by paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn from the American
Museum of Natural History in New York. Osborn offered the young Cook a research assistant
position at Columbia University to study under Osborn, as well as vertebrate paleontologists
William King Gregory and William Diller Matthew. In addition, Cook also met and corresponded
with other distinguished paleontologists including Walter Granger, Frederic Brewster Loomis,
Richard Swann Lull and William John Sinclair. The National Park Service maintains an extensive
collection of archives associated with the Cook family including correspondence between the
family and many of the paleontologists who visited and worked at Agate Springs Ranch.
5.6 Congress authorizes the Antiquities Act
On 8 June 1906, the Antiquities Act (Public Law 59–209) was signed into law by President
Theodore Roosevelt. The law was enacted in response to the widespread looting and vandalism of
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archeological sites in the American Southwest. One of the provisions of the Antiquities Act
provided the president of the United States with the authority to proclaim national monuments
(Santucci 2006). This authority to create national monuments does not require the support from
Congress and has been used over 100 times including when Waco Mammoth National Monument
was proclaimed in 2015.
5.7 Saving the Petrified Forest of Arizona
Several attempts to protect the Arizona petrified forest were undertaken by Congress during the
1890s. In 1900, Smithsonian paleobotanist Lester F. Ward published a ‘Report on the Petrified
Forests of Arizona’ and recommended that the area needed to be protected (Ward 1900). During
1904 and 1905 conservationist John Muir traveled into the Arizona Territory with his daughter
and ventured into the ‘Petrified Forest’ near the town of Adamana (Figure 5). Muir was both
inspired by the fossil locality known as ‘Chalcedony Forest’ and unsettled by the wagon loads of
petrified wood being hauled out. It is believed that John Muir communicated his observations and
concerns about the petrified forest to his friend President Theodore Roosevelt (Lubick 1996).
Figure 5. John Muir and group examining petrified logs in an area referred to as ‘First Forest’
which would later be protected when Petrified Forest National Monument was established in 1906.
(National Park Service photograph).
On 8 December 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Petrified Forest National
Monument (Proclamation 697), one of the first monuments established using the Antiquities Act
(Santucci 2006). The proclamation stated
. . . the mineralized remains of Mesozoic forests, commonly known as the “Petrified Forest,” in the
Territory of Arizona . . . are of the greatest scientific interest and value and it appears that the public
good would be promoted by reserving these deposits of fossilized wood as a national monument with
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as much land as may be necessary for the proper protection thereof . . . (Theodore Roosevelt,
Presidential Proclamation 697).
5.8 Paleontologist Charles Walcott studies fossils from several national parks
One of the most famous American paleontologists is Charles Doolittle Walcott. Walcott joined
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1879 and in 1894 became its third Director, a position he
held until 1907. In 1907 Walcott became the fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and
served in that position until 1927. During his career, Charles Walcott either conducted fieldwork
in or studied fossils which were collected from areas that would become national parks, including
Death Valley National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton
National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Saint
Croix National Scenic Riverway, and Yellowstone National Park (Walcott 1883, 1890, 1899,
1901, 1902, 1906, 1914a, 1914b). Walcott was a strong advocate and supporter of the National
Park Service during the early years of the new bureau, and in 1917 was an invited speaker at the
Fourth National Park Conference (Walcott 1917).
5.9 World renowned dinosaur discoveries and the establishment of Dinosaur National Monument
During 1908 the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, applied for and was granted an
Antiquities Act Permit from the Secretary of the Interior to prospect and collect fossils from
federal lands in Uintah County, Utah. This was the first such permit issued for fossils under the
authority of the Antiquities Act, two years after the passage of the legislation by Congress. After
the permit was issued in 1908, Carnegie Museum director William Holland discovered the femur
of a sauropod dinosaur from the Morrison Formation near Jensen, Utah. The following year,
Holland sent paleontologist Earl Douglass to continue paleontological field work in the dinosaur
producing beds of northeastern Utah (Holland 1915a, 1915b, 1924; McIntosh 1977; Chure and
McIntosh 1990). Excavations at the Dinosaur Quarry, sometimes referred to as the ‘Douglass
Quarry’, continued until 1922, resulting in the collection of one the most important assemblages
of dinosaur skeletons in the history of paleontology (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Carnegie Museum field crew collecting a dinosaur femur from the Douglass Quarry,
which was incorporated into Dinosaur National Monument established in 1915.
(National Park Service photograph).
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On 4 October 1915, Dinosaur National Monument was established by President Woodrow
Wilson as the second fossil park (the first was Petrified Forest National Monument) proclaimed
by the Antiquities Act. According to the proclamation the monument was established to preserve
. . . an extraordinary deposit of Dinosaurian and other gigantic reptilian remains of the Jurassic
period, which are of great scientific interest and value, and it appears that the public interest would
be promoted by reserving these deposits as a National Monument, together with as much land as may
be needed for the protection thereof. (Woodrow Wilson, Presidential Proclamation 1313).
5.10 Discovery and excavation of the Cumberland Bone Cave
During 1912, an important fossiliferous cave deposit was discovered during construction of the
Western Maryland Railway. Excavation of a cut in a ridge near Cumberland, Maryland, exposed
fossil bones which were brought to the attention of a local naturalist named Raymond
Armbruster. Paleontologist James Gidley at the Smithsonian Institution was notified and visited
this fossil locality, given the name Cumberland Bone Cave. Gidley supervised excavation of
Cumberland Bone Cave between 1912 and 1916. Forty-one genera of mammals were originally
identified from within the cave deposits, many representing extinct Pleistocene fauna including
saber-tooth cat and cave bear specimens (Gidley 1913; Gidley and Gazin 1938). Today the area
which was part of the Cumberland Bone Cave is along the Potomac Heritage National Scenic
Trail near Cumberland, Maryland.
6. FIRST 50 YEARS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PERIOD (1916–1966)
This historic period begins with the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916 through
the 50th anniversary of the bureau in 1966. The National Park Service Organic Act was signed
into law by President Woodrow Wilson on 25 August 1916, creating the National Park Service,
as a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior. The legislation included the following
language which serves as the purpose of the National Park Service:
. . . to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to
provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them
unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. (National Park Service Organic Act, 54 U.S.C.
§ 100101 et seq.).
In addition to the creation of the National Park Service and its first 50 years, this historic period
included two world wars, the Great Depression and post-war globalization extending to the 50th
anniversary of the National Park Service in 1966.
6.1 Establishment of Zion National Monument recognized fossils
On 18 March 1918, Zion National Monument, Utah, was proclaimed by President Woodrow
Wilson. According to the proclamation the significance of Zion was described by the following
text:
The geologic features include craters of extinct volcanoes, fossiliferous deposits of unusual nature,
and brilliantly colored strata of unique composition, among which are some believed to be the best
representatives in the world of a rare type of sedimentation . . . the features of geographic interest
include a labyrinth of remarkable canyons with highly ornate and beautifully colored walls, in which
are plainly recorded the geologic events of past ages . . . (Woodrow Wilson, Proclamation 1435).
The monument was redesignated a national park on 19 November 1919 through a complex series
of legislative actions.
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6.2 Charles Sternberg visits Chaco Canyon National Monument
During June 1921, the famous commercial fossil collector Charles Sternberg and his assistant
John Bender visited Chaco Canyon National Monument (proclaimed in 1907). The monument
was redesignated Chaco Culture National Historical Park in 1980. Sternberg discovered and
collected some large fossil bivalves known as inoceramids. Sternberg unsuccessfully tried to sell
the fossils to Dr. Carl Wiman at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. In a letter written by
Sternberg to Dr. Wiman on 11 July 1921, referencing specimens for sale, he stated, “I found a
fine locality at Pueblo Bonita [in the monument], where I got some fine Inoceramus shells” (Hunt
et al. 1992, letter 2 appendix 1—Sternberg 1932). Wiman declined to purchase the shells as he
apparently was only interested in vertebrate fossils.
6.3 Establishment and deauthorization of Fossil Cycad National Monument
On 21 October 1922, President Warren G. Harding proclaimed Fossil Cycad National Monument
in the Black Hills of South Dakota (Proclamation 1641) as the third national monument
established based on its fossil resources. The fossil locality preserved hundreds of Cretaceous
cycadeoid specimens, possibly the world’s greatest concentrations of these fossil plants (Figure
7). Although established as a unit of the National Park Service, the monument was not actively
managed. Years of negligent management at the monument resulted in irreparable impacts on the
finite and scientifically significant paleobotanical resources. Fossils exposed on the monument’s
surface were collected faster than erosion could expose other specimens from beneath. The loss
of the exposed petrified plant remains eventually left the site devoid of fossils and ultimately
without a purpose to justify its existence as a unit of the National Park Service. On 1 September
1957, the U.S. Congress voted to deauthorize Fossil Cycad National Monument (Santucci and
Hughes 1998; Santucci and Ghist 2014).
Figure 7. Yale paleobotanist George Wieland supervising the excavation of fossil cycads by
members of the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fossil Cycad National Monument.
(National Park Service photograph).
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6.4 Charles Gilmore documents fossil vertebrate tracks at Grand Canyon National Park
In 1924, the National Park Service invited Smithsonian paleontologist Charles Gilmore to
examine Upper Paleozoic vertebrate tracks at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Gilmore
documented and collected fossil tracks from the Wescogame Formation of the Supai Group
(Pennsylvanian), the Hermit Shale (Permian) and Coconino Sandstone (Permian). These fossil
tracks were described by Gilmore in a series of publications during the late 1920s (Gilmore 1926,
1927, 1928). Gilmore also assisted with the design and construction of an in situ fossil track
exhibit along the Hermit Trail which is no longer maintained.
6.5 Establishment of Badlands National Monument
After a decade-long effort, Badlands National Monument, South Dakota, was authorized on 4
March 1929 as a unit of the National Park Service. The authorizing act (Public Law 1021,
codified at 16 U.S.C. § 441 - 441o) was signed by President Calvin Coolidge on the last day of
his term as President of the United States. The area included in the monument preserved
extremely fossiliferous strata from the Eocene and Oligocene epochs commonly referred to as the
White River Badlands by early explorers and fossil collectors. The monument was not officially
established until 25 January 1939 and was later redesignated as a national park in 1978. Section
4.5 of this paper provides additional historical information pertaining to the paleontology of
Badlands National Park.
6.6 Paleontological localities evaluated as potential national monuments but never authorized
During the first 50 years of the National Park Service’s history, many natural and cultural areas
were evaluated as potential national parks or monuments. The list of proposed new areas included
a number of paleontological localities, such as: Mastodon National Monument, New Mexico; Red
Rock Canyon (including the Petrified Cocoanut Grove) National Monument, California; States
Red Mountain Coal Mine (dinosaur tracks) National Monument, Colorado; Glen Rose Dinosaur
Tracksite National Monument, Texas; Irvington Fossil Deposit National Monument, California;
Rancho La Brea (Tar Pits) National Monument, California; Sharktooth Hill National Monument,
California; Gingko Petrified Forest National Monument, Washington; Esmeralda Petrified Forest
National Monument, Nevada; and Calistoga Petrified Forest National Monument, California.
Although these proposed fossil monuments were never authorized as National Park Service
Areas, many would later be established as National Natural Landmarks.
6.7 Civilian Conservation Corps supports paleontology projects in national parks
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal included a public work relief program known as the
Civilian Conservation Corps that existed between 1933 and 1942. The Civilian Conservation
Corps was designed to create jobs during the Great Depression in the United States which
involved the conservation and development of natural resources and it played an important role in
the development of many early national parks and monuments (Paige 1985). Civilian
Conservation Corps workers assisted with paleontology projects in several National Park Service
areas including Badlands National Park, Big Bend National Park, Grand Canyon National Park,
Fossil Cycad National Monument and several other parks. The projects included the development
of interpretive exhibits and support for fossil excavations, collection, and research.
6.8 Donald Curry and fossil discoveries at Death Valley National Monument
On 11 February 1933, President Herbert Hoover, the only U.S. president formally trained as a
geologist, proclaimed Death Valley as a national monument (Proclamation 2028). A year later in
1934, Donald Curry was hired as the first Ranger Naturalist at Death Valley National Monument.
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Curry is possibly the first professional geologist to wear the ranger uniform (Figure 8). He
conducted geologic research during the day and presented interpretive programs to the public in
the evenings. Curry is credited with the discovery of titanothere remains in Titus Canyon, fossil
plant material from the Furnace Creek Formation, several new Tertiary fish fossils, and three
fossil vertebrate track localities, most notably at the Copper Canyon tracksite. In his honor, two
fossil species have been designated with the species name curryi including: Fundulus curryi
(fish) and Protitanops curryi (mammal) (Santucci and Nyborg 1999).
Figure 8. Geologist Donald Curry and Ranger Doudna mapping in Gold Canyon at Death Valley National Monument.
(National Park Service photograph).
6.9 Myrl Walker promotes paleontology at Petrified Forest National Monument
Between 1934 and 1938, Park Naturalist Myrl Walker was stationed at Petrified Forest National
Monument. Although Walker was assigned to provide interpretation of park resources, he
coordinated paleontological surveys, collected fossils, wrote reports, and even published a paper
(Walker 1938) on some of the park fossils (Parker 2006). Walker was trained in paleontology and
hosted Charles Gilmore and George Sternberg during field work in the park. Myrl Walker is
considered to be the first paleontologist who worked for the National Park Service at Petrified
Forest National Monument. Section 5.7 provides additional information pertaining to the history
of paleontology at Petrified Forest National Monument.
6.10 Establishment of Big Bend National Park and early fossil discoveries
Between 1929 and 1936, Yellowstone Superintendent Roger Wolcott Toll would assist National
Park Service Director Horace Albright during the winter months by evaluating proposed
additions to the National Park System. During 1934, Toll traveled to the Big Bend region of
Texas to visit the newly designated Texas State Park. In Toll’s Big Bend Trip Report, he
described the “outstanding scenic area”. The recommendations made by Toll were instrumental in
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the 20 June 1935 authorization of Big Bend National Park by Congress as a unit of the National
Park Service (Public Law 74-157, codified at 16 U.S.C. § 156 - 158). Within this legislation is
specific language which references that the park will be established upon the conveyance of lands
from the State of Texas to the federal government.
In February 1936, Toll and biologist George Melendez Wright visited Big Bend as
participants in an International Park Commission to evaluate the area for possible designation of a
transboundary park with Mexico. Tragically, on 25 February 1936, both Toll and Wright were
killed in an automobile accident after their visit to Big Bend.
A young geologist named Ross Maxwell was hired by the National Park Service to survey
the area of the proposed new national park. Maxwell and the Regional Geologist, Charles Gould,
quickly recognized the important fossil vertebrates which occurred in the Cretaceous strata in the
Big Bend area. Maxwell and Gould recruited help from the Civilian Conservation Corps to
collect fossils and to construct a small museum in the Chisos Basin in a barracks at the Civilian
Conservation Corps camp (Gould 1936) (Figure 9). Unfortunately, a fire on 24 December 1941
destroyed the geology and fossil museum.
Figure 9. Rocks and fossils on display at the museum set up by the Civilian Conservation Corps in a camp barracks in
the Chisos Basin. (National Park Service photograph).
A crew from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped to develop three fossil
quarries in Big Bend during 1938 and 1939. The WPA crew worked under the supervision of
William Strain from the Texas College of Mines and Mineralogy in El Paso, Texas. More than
500 fossil bones were collected under Strain’s supervision (Wick and Corrick 2015). The success
of the WPA quarries drew several notable paleontologists into the field at Big Bend during 1940,
including Charles Gilmore (Smithsonian) and Barnum Brown and Roland T. Bird (American
Museum of Natural History). Brown and Bird collected a variety of dinosaur bones and partial
jaws of the giant crocodilian which was later named Deinosuchus (Baird and Horner 1979).
A deed of conveyance was completed in 1944 and Big Bend National Park was officially
established on 12 June 1944, nine years after the authorization. Geologist Ross Maxwell was
appointed the first superintendent and served from 1944 to 1952 (Maxwell 1985). During
Maxwell’s tenure, he fostered a long-term relationship with paleontologists Wann Langston and
Jack Wilson, and students from the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory at the University of
Texas at Austin (later named the Texas Memorial Museum). Section 5.4 of this paper provides
additional information on the history of paleontology in the Big Bend area.
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6.11 Discovery of fossils during the construction of Boulder Dam
On 13 October 1936, Boulder Dam National Recreation Area (Public Law 88-639, codified at 16
U.S.C. §§ 460n – 460n-9) was established as a unit of the National Park Service to administer the
reservoir lake and adjacent lands formed by the construction of Boulder Dam, known today as
Hoover Dam. In 1947 the name was changed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and was
established as the first national recreation area in 1964. Geologist Edward Schenk was hired by
the National Park Service to describe the geology and paleontology of the new recreation area.
Schenk collected hundreds of fossil specimens from within and around Lake Mead National
Recreation Area. A portion of this collection is maintained in the Lake Mead National Recreation
Area park museum collection. Some of Schenk’s fossil collection may have been sent to the U.S.
Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia. A series of unpublished reports, prepared by Schenk
regarding his work at Lake Mead during 1936 through 1938, are maintained in the Lake Mead
National Recreation Area archives in Boulder City, Nevada (i.e. Schenk 1936, 1938).
6.12 Establishment of Channel Islands National Monument recognizes fossils
On 26 April 1938, Channel Islands National Monument, California, was proclaimed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt (see Davis and Kimball 2017). According to the proclamation, the Channel
Islands
. . . lying off the coast of Southern California contain fossils of Pleistocene elephants and ancient
trees, and furnish noteworthy examples of ancient volcanism, deposition, and active sea erosion, and
have situated thereon various other objects of geological and scientific interest. (Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Proclamation 2281).
The monument was designated a national park on 5 March 1989 (Public Law 96-199, codified at
16 U.S.C. § 410ff-410ff-7) and the islands of San Miguel, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa were added
to the park.
6.13 Discovery and early fossil collecting at Rampart Cave
In April 1942, Remington Kellogg from the Smithsonian led a party, including members of the
Civilian Conservation Corps, to Rampart Cave to excavate Pleistocene fossils. Rampart Cave is
formed in the Cambrian Muav Limestone and was discovered in 1936 by a National Park Service
employee named Willis Evans (Santucci et al. 2001). The cave preserved extensive deposits of
Pleistocene ground sloth dung which contain the bones of ice age mammal fossils. Rampart Cave
was originally within the boundaries of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, but was later
incorporated into Grand Canyon National Park when that park’s boundaries were expanded in
January 1975.
6.14 Commercial development of the petrified forests of Florissant
By the 1920s, early discussions began about preservation of the Florissant Fossil Beds in
Colorado, which had long been known to paleontologists and fossil collectors. Two privately
owned petrified forest attractions existed at this time, less than a mile apart, and the owners
eventually engaged in a competitive commercial rivalry resulting in a feud. The first was opened
in 1890 under the name Coplen Petrified Forest and was later sold in 1926 to P. J. Singer. The
name was changed to Colorado Petrified Forest in 1932. The second petrified forest, originally
named the New Petrified Forest, was opened in 1920 and operated as a commercial quarry selling
fossils. This operation changed its name initially to Henderson Petrified Forest and then to Pike
Petrified Forest in 1950. The Pike Petrified Forest included the famous trio of petrified stumps
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and eventually closed to the public in 1961, but later was to be included within the boundaries of
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (Leopold and Meyer 2012).
While traveling in Colorado with his wife Lillian, cartoonist and producer Walt Disney
visited the Pike Petrified Forest on 11 July 1956. Walt’s recognizable signature inscribed in the
Pike Petrified Forest registry book for this day confirms his visit. The accounts of Disney’s visit
to this tourist attraction vary slightly, but the important fact that Walt purchased a petrified stump
that day is substantiated. The 7.5 foot (2.29 meters) tall Florissant stump can be viewed today on
exhibit in Frontierland at Disneyland, California (Figure 10). One account associated with
Disney’s purchase of the petrified stump suggests the fossil was purchased as a gift to his wife for
their thirty-first wedding anniversary.
Figure 10. Walt and Lillian Disney stand in front of the petrified tree exhibit in Frontierland in Disneyland,
California. The fossil was purchased by Disney from the Pike Petrified Forest in Colorado, a locality
that was later preserved within Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
(With permission of the The Walt Disney Company, © Disney).
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According to an interpretive sign with the petrified tree at the theme park, the specimen
was presented to Disneyland by Mrs. Walt Disney in September 1957. However, in a letter dated
19 July 1956, from Walt Disney to Jack Baker, owner of the Pike Petrified Forest, the
instructions were to deliver the petrified stump directly to Disneyland. Disney paid $1,650 for the
stump and some smaller pieces of petrified wood.
6.15 Scientific study of the Yellowstone petrified forests
Paleobotanist Erling Dorf and students from Princeton University conducted paleontological and
geological field investigations in Yellowstone between 1955 and 1959 (Dorf 1960, 1964). This
work involved mapping and field collection of plant fossils from a sequence of Eocene
volcanoclastic deposits exposed along Specimen Ridge in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. Dorf
concluded there were at least twenty-seven distinct petrified forests preserved at Specimen Ridge
(Dorf 1964).
6.16 National Historic Landmarks and National Natural Landmarks programs established
In 1960 the National Park Service began to administer the National Historic Landmarks Program.
The National Historic Landmarks Program supports the designation of nationally significant
historic places by the Secretary of the Interior. National Historic Landmarks are sites and
properties which possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of
the United States. More than 2,500 historic places are designated as National Historic Landmarks,
including five which are associated with famous paleontologists or historically important fossil
localities (Figure 11).
A similar natural resource-focused program is the National Natural Landmarks Program
which was established on 18 May 1962 by Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall (see Eggleston and
Connors 2017). The program is administered by the National Park Service and promotes
conservation and voluntary preservation of outstanding natural resources. A thematic inventory of
ecological and geological sites throughout the United States was conducted between 1970 and
1987, including an inventory of significant Mesozoic fossil vertebrate sites for possible inclusion
in the National Natural Landmarks Program (Ostrom 1985). As of the date of this publication, 45
National Natural Landmarks were established primarily based on the significant paleontological
resources (Figure 11).
6.17 A really ‘Big Dig’ at Tule Spring Fossil Beds
Between October 1962 and February 1963, a team of geologists, paleontologists and
archeologists converged in an area north of Las Vegas known as Tule Springs. This scientific
undertaking, later referred to as the ‘Big Dig’, was an intensive effort to find evidence suggesting
early humans and ice age mammals co-existed along the Las Vegas Wash during the Late
Pleistocene. The first remains of extinct mammoths, camels, bison, sloths and horses were
discovered at Tule Springs several decades earlier. The documentation of charcoal and the
discovery of a few potentially ‘human modified’ objects presented hope that Tule Springs may
shed light on the discussion of human antiquity in North America.
The expedition at Tule Springs was led by geologist C. Vance Haynes from the University
of Arizona (Wormington and Ellis 1967). The scientific team included Willard Libby from the
University of California at Los Angeles who was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for
his pioneering work on radiocarbon dating. Libby’s analysis of Carbon 14 (14C) samples from
Tule Springs represented the first field testing of his new age-dating technique. Although the
results of the ‘Big Dig’ were not able to conclusively determine the co-existence of humans and
ice age megafauna, the significance of the Late Pleistocene fossil locality resulted in the area
being designated as the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument approximately 50 years
after the ‘Big Dig’.
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Figure 11. U.S. map showing the location of the 45 National Natural Landmarks (NNL) and 5 National Historic
Landmarks (NHL) that are recognized based on the significant paleontological resources or history. The location of the
NHLs and NNLs are presented on the map and include: 1. Ginkgo Petrified Forest NNL, WA; 2. John Day Fossil Beds
NNL, OR; 3. Hagerman Fauna Sites NNL, ID; 4.Ichthyosaur Site NNL, NV; 5. Sharktooth Hill NNL, CA; 6. Rainbow
Basin NNL, CA; 7. Rancho La Brea NNL, CA; 8.Anza-Borrego Desert State Park NNL, CA; 9. Unga Island NNL, AK; 10.
Hell Creek Fossil Area NNL, MT; 11. Bug Creek Fossil Area NNL, MT; 12. Bridger Fossil Area NNL, MT; 13. Cloverly
Formation Site NNL, MT; 14. Crooked Creek Natural Area NNL, WY; 15. Como Bluff NNL, WY; 16. Mammoth Site of
Hot Springs NNL, SD; 17. Ashfall Fossil Beds NNL, NE; 18. Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry NNL, UT; 19. Sand
Creek NNL, WY; 20. Morrison-Golden Fossil Areas NNL, CO; 21. West Bijou Site NNL, CO; 22. Garden Park Fossil
Area NNL, CO; 23. Indian Springs Trace Fossil Site NNL, CO; 24.Comb Ridge NNL, AZ; 25. Ghost Ranch NNL, NM; 26.
Greenwood Canyon NNL, TX; 27. Dinosaur Valley NNL, TX; 28. Mazon Creek Fossil Beds NHL, IL; 29. Hanging Rock
and Wabash Reef NNL, IN; 30. Ohio Coral Reef (Falls of the Ohio) NNL, IN & KY; 31. Big Bone Lick NNL, KY; 32. Big
Bone Cave NNL, TN; 33. Lost Sea (Craighead Caverns) NNL, KY; 34. Mississippi Petrified Forest NNL, MS; 35. Red
Mountain Expressway Cut NNL, AL; 36. Wakulla Springs NNL, FL; 37. Fossil Coral Reef NNL, NY; 38. Fall Brook
Gorge NNL, NY; 39. Chazy Fossil Reef NNL, NY & VT; 40. Petrified Gardens NNL, NY; 41. Dinosaur Trackway NNL,
CT; 42. Othniel Charles Marsh House NHL, CT; 43. Riker Hill Fossil Site NNL, NJ; 44. Charles Willson Peale NHL, PA;
45. Edward Drinker Cope House NHL, PA; 46. Hadrosaurus Foulki Leidy Site NHL, NJ; 47. Organ Cave System NNL,
WV; 48. Lost World Caverns NNL, WV; 49. Coki Point Cliffs NNL, Virgin Islands; 50. Vagthus Point NNL, Virgin
Islands.
6.18 Resdesignation of Petrified Forest National Monument to National Park
On 9 December 1962, Congress established Petrified Forest National Park by redesignating and
expanding the 1906 national monument. The original park legislation (Public Law 85-358) was
first approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, but President John F. Kennedy signed
the final legislation in 1962. Sections 5.6 and 6.8 in this publication present earlier historical
information pertaining to Petrified Forest National Park.
6.19 Authorization of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
On 5 June 1965, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska, was created as a unit of the
National Park Service. According to the enabling legislation, the monument was created
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. . . to preserve for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the outstanding
paleontological sites known as the Agate Springs Fossil Quarries, and nearby related geological
phenomena, to provide a center for continuing paleontological research and for the display and
interpretation of the scientific specimens uncovered at such sites, and to facilitate
the protection and exhibition of a valuable collection of Native American artifacts and relics that
are representative of an import phase of Native American history. (Public Law 89-33).
Although the monument was authorized in 1965, it was not established until 14 June 1997.
Section 5.5 in this publication presents additional historical information pertaining to Agate
Fossil Beds National Monument.
7. SECOND 50 YEARS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PERIOD (1966–2016)
The period represents the fifty years between the 50th and 100th anniversaries for the National
Park Service, and is punctuated by the establishment of several National Park Service areas
recognized in part for their significant paleontological resources. Perhaps this trend in the
conservation of paleontological resources is a reflection of evolving societal values or human
dimensions pertaining to fossils during this period (Santucci et al. 2016). This period includes a
program called Mission 66, in which the National Park Service undertook a ten-year effort to
dramatically expand visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the agency.
There were National Park Service paleontology-focused exhibits which were developed as part of
Mission 66. During the second half of the twentieth century, an escalating commercial market for
fossils sparked a corresponding public and political debate involving our paleontological heritage
in the United States.
This period also marks the creation of the first service-wide National Park Service
paleontologist position, the development of National Park Service policies pertaining to
paleontology, and the recruitment of more than 200 paleontology interns to support fossil-related
projects in parks. Additionally, the Paleontological Resource Preservation Act was signed into
law in March 2009, the National Park Service Junior Paleontologist Program was created, and
National Fossil Day was established as part of Earth Science Week.
7.1 Establishment of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
On 20 August 1969, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado, was established as a
unit of the National Park Service. According to the authorizing legislation the monument was
established
in order to preserve and interpret for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the
excellently preserved insect and leaf fossils and related geologic sites and objects at the Florissant
lakebeds . . . (Public Law 91-60).
The monument preserves abundant and diverse paleontological resources from the Eocene
Florissant Formation. Fossil remains include incredibly well-preserved leaves, fruits, insects,
fishes, birds, and small mammals that originally came to scientific attention in the early 1870s.
Additionally, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument contains impressive standing stumps of
petrified redwood trees. Leopold and Meyer (2012) present a detailed historical account of the
preservation movement which advanced to protect the Florissant Fossil Beds and creation of the
national monument. Section 5.3 presents additional historical information pertaining to the
Florissant Fossil Beds.
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7.2 New paleontological discoveries at Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park was a ‘hot spot’ for paleontological field work and discoveries during the
1970s. Judith A. Schiebout uncovered Paleocene mammals during her dissertation field work that
spanned the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in Big Bend National Park (Schiebout 1973). In
1971, the remains of the largest known flying animal, a pterosaur named Quetzalcoatlus
northropi, were uncovered by Doug Lawson (Lawson 1972, 1975). Lawson is also credited with
describing ceratopsian and tyrannosaurid fossils from the park, and documenting a variety of
paleobotanical specimens from Big Bend National Park (Lawson 1972, 1976). During the late
1970s, James and Margaret Stevens and Tom Lehman began their paleontological work in Big
Bend National Park which spanned four decades and included many important fossil discoveries
(Stevens 1977; Lehman 1985). Sections 5.4 and 6.10 provide additional information pertaining to
the history of paleontology in the Big Bend area of Texas.
7.3 Establishment of Guadalupe Mountains National Park
On 30 September 1972, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, was established as a unit of
the National Park Service. According to the authorizing legislation:
In order to preserve in public ownership an area in the State of Texas possessing outstanding
geological values together with scenic and other natural values of great significance. (Public Law 89-
667, codified at 16 U.S.C. § 283-283e).
Although fossils are not specifically mentioned, they are certainly part of the park’s “outstanding
geological values”. The Permian Reef Complex preserved within and around Guadalupe
Mountains National Park represents one of the largest fossil reefs and the most complete Permian
marine sequences in the world (Newell et al. 1953). The diverse marine fauna associated with the
ancient reef ecosystem includes algae, fusulinids, sponges, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods,
trilobites, ostracods, gastropods, cephalopods, scaphopods, pelecypods, crinoids, echinoids,
conodonts and a few rare fish. A network of more than two dozen caves at Guadalupe Mountains
National Park preserves Pleistocene and Holocene vertebrate fossils (Santucci et al. 2001).
7.4 Establishment of Fossil Butte National Monument
On 23 October 1972, Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming, was established as a unit of the
National Park Service. According to the authorizing legislation the monument was established
. . . in order to preserve for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations outstanding
paleontological sites and related geological phenomena, and to provide for the display and
interpretation of scientific specimens, the Fossil Butte National Monument. (Public Law 92-537).
Fossil Butte National Monument contains lacustrine deposits from Eocene Fossil Lake, one of
three ancient lakes representing the extremely fossiliferous Green River Formation. The
extraordinary preservation of the fossils, including Eocene vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and
trace fossils, at the locality is recognized as a Lagerstätten. The wonderful fossil preservation of
the Green River Formation fossils has resulted in intensive commercial collecting of fossils on
private and State of Wyoming lands in Fossil Basin for more than a century (Grande 1980)
(Figure 12).
7.5 Redesignation of Badlands National Monument to National Park
On 10 November 1978, Badlands National Monument was redesignated as a national park
(Public Law 95-625, codified at 16 U.S.C. § 441 - 441o). This redesignation included the
expansion of the park boundary to include the area referred to as the ‘South Unit’ which incorpor-
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Figure 12. David C. Haddenham collecting fossils on Fossil Butte in 1950.
(Photo by Walter Youngquist – FOBU 13666).
ates lands on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. According to the Badlands National Park
General Management Plan for the South Unit (2012), the purpose of the park is to
. . . preserve, interpret, and provide scientific research of the paleontological and geological
resources of the White River Badlands . . . .
The history related to the expansion of lands to be incorporated into Badlands National Park is
complex and extends back to World War II. In 1942, the United States acquired most of the area
now encompassed within the South Unit of the park to be used as a U.S. Air Force gunnery
range. The lands were acquired through condemnation, and Native American families who lived
on the condemned lands were displaced.
Federal legislation signed in August 1968 (Public Law 90-468), and a Memorandum of
Agreement between the Oglala Sioux and the National Park Service in 1976, paved the way for
the redesignation of Badlands National Park of 1978 to include the addition of the South Unit on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Sections 4.5 and 6.5 of this paper present additional historical
information pertaining to the paleontology of the Badlands.
7.6 Enactment of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act
The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (Public Law 96–95, as amended, codified
at 16 U.S.C. § 470aa et seq.) is the primary legal authority pertaining to the management of
archeological resources on federal and Indian lands in the United States. Although the focus of
the Archaeological Resources Protection Act applies to archeological resources, there is a
provision which specifically addresses the occurrence of paleontological resources within an
archeological context (Kenworthy and Santucci 2006).
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7.7 Establishment of Bering Land Bridge and Yukon-Charley Rivers national monuments
recognizing fossils
Bering Land Bridge National Monument and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Monument were
established as units of the National Park Service in Alaska on 1 December 1978. President Jimmy
Carter proclaimed these monuments under the authority of the Antiquities Act (1906) and
specifically referenced the paleontological resources of each monument. The Bering Land Bridge
National Monument proclamation states
paleontological sites providing abundant evidence of the migration of plants and animals onto the
continent in the ages before the human migrations. The arctic conditions here are favorable to the
preservation of this paleontological record from minute pollen grains and insects to the large
mammals such as the mammoth. (Jimmy Carter, Proclamation 4614).
The Yukon-Charley Rivers National Monument proclamation references
outstanding paleontological resources and ecologically diverse natural resources, offering many
opportunities for scientific and historic study and research. [The proclamation further states]
Geological and paleontological features within the area are exceptional, including a nearly unbroken
visible series of rock strata representing a range in geologic time from pre-Cambrian to Recent. The
oldest exposures contain fossils estimated to be 700 million years old, including the earliest forms of
animal life. A large array of Ice Age fossils occurs in the area. (Jimmy Carter, Proclamation 4626).
7.8 Enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and recognition of
scientific significance of Alaska parks
On 2 December 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was signed into law
by President Jimmy Carter, and it redesignated both Bering Land Bridge National Monument and
Yukon-Charley Rivers National Monument as national preserves and again reaffirmed the:
protection of the geological, archeological, paleontological, biological and other phenomena (Public
Law 96-487, codified at 16 U.S.C. §§ 3101 et seq.).
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act led to the large expansion of National Park
Service lands in Alaska which preserve diverse and scientifically important paleontological
resources.
7.9 Fossil theft investigation at Badlands National Park
During the summer of 1985, a law enforcement investigation at Badlands National Park, South
Dakota, uncovered evidence involving long-term and systematic illegal collecting of fossils from
within the park. This investigation yielded information indicating that some of the unauthorized
fossil collecting in the park was potentially tied to commercial fossil dealers. Nearly a decade
after the fossil theft investigation was initiated at Badlands National Park in 1985, the first felony
conviction for fossil theft in U.S. history was issued to a commercial fossil business in 1995 for
the theft of fossil fish from Badlands National Park (Fiffer 2000).
7.10 First National Park Service Fossil Resource Conference hosted at Dinosaur National
Monument
In 1986, the first National Park Service Fossil Resources Conference was hosted at Dinosaur
National Monument. The conference was hosted by Dan Chure, paleontologist at Dinosaur
National Monument, and Ted Fremd, paleontologist at John Day Fossil Beds National
Monument, in order to promote communication and collaboration between staff involved with the
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management, protection, interpretation, curation and research of National Park Service fossils.
Dan and Ted raised issues which contributed to development of service-wide policy and
guidelines (NPS-77) pertaining to National Park Service fossils and led to the transfer of National
Park Service paleontology from under the administration of the Cultural Resources Program to
the Natural Resources Program. The birth of the fossil resource conference idea at Dinosaur
National Monument in 1986 led to nine more similar conferences which expanded to involve
other federal, state and local land managing agencies.
7.11 Establishment of Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
On 18 November 1988, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho, was established as a
unit of the National Park Service. According to the authorizing legislation the monument was
established
In order to preserve for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the outstanding
paleontological sites known as the Hagerman Valley fossil sites, to provide a center for continuing
paleontological research, and to provide for display and interpretation of the scientific specimens
uncovered at such sites, there is hereby established the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.
(Public Law 100-696).
Section 306 of the law states
In order to provide for continuing paleontological research, the Secretary shall incorporate in the
general management plan provisions for the orderly and regulated use of and research in the
monument by qualified scientists, scientific groups, and students under the jurisdiction of such
qualified individuals or groups. (Public Law 100-696).
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument preserves one of the world’s richest fossil deposits
from the late Pliocene epoch. Among the scientifically significant fossils from the monument is
the largest concentration of ‘Hagerman Horse’ fossils in North America (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Smithsonian field crew jacketing fossils at the Hagerman Horse Quarry. (Smithsonian photograph).
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7.12 First assessment of National Park Service paleontological resource crimes
In 1988 the Servicewide Natural Resources Assessment and Action Program recognized that the
loss of paleontological resources through illegal collecting was a major resource issue facing the
National Park System. A Paleontological Resources Protection Questionnaire was distributed to
National Park Service areas in the spring of 1992. This survey was primarily designed to gather
data regarding the extent and magnitude of illegal fossil collection in the parks. The initial survey
identified 721 incidents of paleontological resource crimes in the National Park Service, resulting
in 412 citations and six arrests. Based on the results of the initial survey, a series of
recommendations were implemented to enhance the protection of non-renewable paleontological
resources in the National Park Service. One of the recommendations called for the need to
develop and present paleontological resource protection training to National Park Service staff
and law enforcement rangers. Between 1993 and 1999 more than 200 National Park Service
rangers participated in paleontological resource protection training.
In 1999, the National Park Service Ranger Activities Division and the Geologic Resources
Division distributed a Geological, Paleontological & Cave Resources Protection Survey to the
parks. This survey was expanded from the 1992 survey to include incidents related to the theft or
vandalism of any geologic resources, including fossils and cave resources, in the parks. The
results of the second survey led to recommendations to expand the training opportunities for
National Park Service staff and for the development of paleontological resource protection
training modules. An Albright Wirth Grant was presented to the author in 1998 to coordinate the
development of paleontological resource protection training with the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center and the National Park Service Horace Albright Training Center. Three
paleontological resource training modules were produced through this collaboration and have
been presented to more than 1,200 National Park Service employees.
7.13 Federal paleontological resource crimes investigation – Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ‘Sue’
One of the most well-known fossils in the world is a Tyrannosaurus rex named ‘Sue’. This
dinosaur skeleton is recognized as one of the largest, most complete and best-preserved
specimens of the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered and collected. ‘Sue’ was discovered
during the summer of 1990 on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The
complex story involving ‘Sue’ has become highly publicized, controversial, sometimes clouded
by misinformation, and often overshadowed by the dinosaur. The discussion of the ‘Sue’
investigation is presented here based on the fact that there were ties to illegal fossil collecting in
Badlands National Park and National Park Service staff participated in the investigation. The
investigation led to the seizure of the dinosaur skeleton on 14 May 1992 followed by both civil
and criminal litigation (Fiffer 2000). The civil litigation involving ‘Sue’ determined ownership of
the fossil and the specimen was eventually auctioned in October 1997 and sold for over $8
million dollars. Although the criminal portion of the case had almost nothing to do with the
dinosaur ‘Sue’, media coverage has led to confusion about the criminal case by focusing on the
dinosaur. In fact, the criminal portion of the case resulted in the first felony conviction for fossil
theft through a trial in United States history. This portion of the case specifically involved catfish
fossils stolen from Badlands National Park, an important historical fact which has largely been
overshadowed by the media focus on the dinosaur.
7.14 California Desert Protection Act recognizes fossils at two parks
On 31 October 1994, the California Desert Protection Act was signed into law by President Bill
Clinton. The law expanded the boundaries and redesignated two national monuments in
California as national parks resulting in the establishment of Death Valley National Park and
Joshua Tree National Park. The law referenced, for both national parks, the
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superlative natural, ecological, geological, archeological, paleontological, cultural, historical and
wilderness values . . . (Public Law 103-433, codified at 16 U.S.C. § 410aaa et seq.).
7.15 Establishment of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument recognizes fossils
On 11 January 2000, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona, was proclaimed by
President Bill Clinton. According to the proclamation,
The monument is a geological treasure. Its Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rock layers are
relatively undeformed and unobscured by vegetation, offering a clear view to understanding the
geologic history of the Colorado Plateau . . . Fossils are abundant in the monument. Among these are
large numbers of invertebrate fossils, including bryozoans and brachiopods located in the Calville
Limestone of the Grand Wash Cliffs, and brachiopods, pelecypods, fenestrate bryozoa, and crinoid
ossicles in the Toroweap and Kaibab formations of Whitmore Canyon. There are also sponges in
nodules and pectenoid pelecypods throughout the Kaibab formation of Parashant Canyon. (Bill
Clinton, Proclamation 7265).
Grand Canyon – Parashant National Monument includes lands which are administered by both
the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.
7.16 Publication of the Secretary of Interior ‘Report to Congress’ – Fossils on Federal and
Indian lands
In May 2000, the Secretary of the Interior published a report titled Fossils on Federal and Indian
Lands: Assessment of Fossil Management on Federal & Indian Lands. During the previous year
Congress (Senate Appropriations Committee) requested information on the status and condition
of paleontological resources and collections from federal lands in order to assess the need for a
unified federal policy for fossils. In addition, during the previous two decades, a series of bills
pertaining to paleontological resources were introduced to Congress, which resulted in some
conflicting and confusing feedback from constituents. Eight consulting federal agencies
participated in the development of the report to Congress including the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest
Service, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and U.S. Geological Survey. A draft
report was developed and a notice regarding the report was published in the Federal Register. The
draft report was presented at a public hearing and public comments were obtained which were
incorporated into the final ‘Report to Congress’ published in May 2000.
7.17 Initiation and completion of fossil resource summaries for National Park Service inventory
and monitoring networks
In order to better understand the scope, significance, distribution and management issues
associated with National Park Service fossils, a strategy was established in 2001 to compile
baseline paleontological resource data for parks. The strategy aligned with the recently created
organization of the National Park Service into inventory and monitoring networks, a system in
which 270 parks were grouped into thirty-two ecoregions based on similarities in natural
resources. The Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network was selected as the
prototype paleontological resource inventory network for the National Park Service (Koch and
Santucci 2002). Between 2002 and 2012, paleontological resource inventories were
systematically completed for all thirty-two National Park Service inventory and monitoring
networks, expanding the number of parks identified with fossils from 135 in 1999 to 243 in 2014
(today there are 267 parks identified with fossils). The project also provided an excellent
foundation for the ongoing National Park Service Paleontology Synthesis Project which compiles
the bureau’s paleontological resource data by geologic time, taxonomy, museum repositories and
other important data.
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7.18 Petrified Forest National Park Expansion Act adds important fossil beds to Park
On 3 December 2004, President George W. Bush signed The Petrified Forest National Park
Expansion Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-430, codified at 16 U.S.C. §§ 119) to authorize an
expansion of the park boundaries identified in the park’s General Management Plan initiated
during 1991. The park expansion more than doubled the size of the park, from 93,533 acres to
218,533 acres, which included highly fossiliferous Late Triassic deposits. Sections 4.6 and 6.8 of
this paper provide additional historical information pertaining to Petrified Forest National Park.
Sections 5.7 and 6.9 of this article include additional information on the history of paleontology
at Petrified Forest National Park.
7.19 First ‘Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium’ convened
In 2008, the Petrified Forest Museum Association hosted the first annual Fossil Preparation and
Collections Symposium, an international conference that brought together forty-five professional
and avocational laboratory and collections specialists at Petrified Forest National Park. The
success of this event led to increasingly larger meetings each year, eventually spawning the
Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology. Meetings sponsored by the Association
for Materials and Methods in Paleontology have routinely featured strong National Park Service
support, including hosting, collection tours, field trips, and continued participation from Petrified
Forest National Park, Fossil Butte National Monument, Hagerman Fossil Beds National
Monument, Dinosaur National Park, John Day Fossil Beds, Florissant Fossil Beds National
Monument, Waco Mammoth National Monument, and the National Park Service Museum
Management Program (M. Brown, personal communication, 2017).
7.20 Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009 signed into law
On 30 March 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Paleontological Resource Preservation
Act into law. Approximately thirty years after the Archaeological Resources Protection Act was
signed into law on 31 October 1979, an equivalent federal authority was promulgated for
paleontological resources. The Paleontological Resource Preservation Act is authorized for five
federal land managing agencies including the: Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of
Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service. The law
includes mandates pertaining to the
inventory, monitoring, and the scientific and educational use of paleontological resources . . .
(Public Law 111-011).
The legislation also contains language pertaining to paleontological resource permits, museum
collections, criminal and civil penalties, and confidentiality of sensitive resource information.
7.21 Paleontological resource monitoring strategy developed and piloted
The National Park Service pioneered some of the first discussions and strategies devoted to the
monitoring of in situ paleontological resources (Santucci and Koch 2003; Santucci et al. 2009). In
2009, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah, was selected as the prototype
paleontological resource monitoring park for the National Park Service. Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area was selected based on the continuous fluctuations of water levels on Lake
Powell, which intermittently submerged or exposed the abundant fossils which occur along the
lake shoreline. Low lake water levels, related to droughts in the western United States, exposed
many new fossil track sites which were submerged for many decades. The methods employed for
paleontological resource monitoring at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area captured baseline
data to measure changes in the stability and condition of the fossils over time (Kirkland et al.
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2010). The monitoring strategy evaluates both natural and human factors contributing to the
condition of in situ paleontological resources. Paleontological resource monitoring continues at
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and has been initiated in several other National Park
Service areas.
7.22 Establishment of National Fossil Day as a nationwide partnership
The Paleontological Resource Preservation Act states “The Secretary shall establish a program to
increase public awareness about the significance of paleontological resources.” In response to this
provision in the law, the National Park Service and American Geosciences Institute proposed a
partnership called ‘National Fossil Day’ to promote the scientific and educational values of
fossils. The first National Fossil Day was hosted on 13 October 2010, during Earth Science
Week, with a public event celebrating fossils on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. More
than 500 children participated in the National Park Service Junior Paleontologist Program, a
fossil-themed educational activity which premiered in June 2010 to promote interest in science
and stewardship among children. By 2016, the National Fossil Day partnership had expanded to
include more than 350 partners across the United States and in every state providing fossil-
focused educational activities for children, families and others at the local level. Additionally,
during this time period, the National Park Service developed the Junior Paleontologist Activity
Booklet to promote interest in science and stewardship among children.
7.23 Establishment of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
On 19 December 2014, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada, was established
as a unit of the National Park Service. According to the authorizing legislation the monument was
established
In order to conserve, protect, interpret, and enhance for the benefit of present and future generations
the unique and nationally important paleontological, scientific, educational, and recreational
resources and values . . . (Public Law 113-291).
The monument consists of lands transferred to the National Park Service from the Bureau of Land
Management. Pleistocene sedimentary deposits in the upper Las Vegas Wash have yielded
abundant ice age megafauna fossils (mammoths, camels, sloths, etc.) and have been the focus of
field collecting and research (Springer et al. 2017). Additional historical information pertaining to
Tule Springs Fossil Beds is presented in Section 6.17 of this publication.
7.24 Establishment of Waco Mammoth National Monument
On 10 July 2015, Waco Mammoth National Monument, Texas, was established as a unit of the
National Park Service by President Barack Obama. According to the proclamation, the monument
was created as a
partnership between the City of Waco, Baylor University, and the Waco Mammoth Foundation, Inc.,
. . . [to] maintain the Waco Mammoth Site and expand the partnership to include the National Park
Service [and] to preserve and protect the scientific objects at the Waco Mammoth Site. (Barack
Obama, Proclamation 9299).
The history of the fossil locality dates back to the discovery of a fossil bone during the spring of
1978 by Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin. The two men collected the bone and took it to Baylor
University’s Strecker Museum (now Mayborn Museum) where it was identified as a femur from
a Pleistocene Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). To date, the site has yielded the
remains of twenty-five mammoths, which represent the largest known concentration from a single
herd dying during the same event, along with the remains of camel, dwarf antelope, American
PRESERVING FOSSILS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
278
alligator, giant tortoise, and the tooth of a juvenile saber-toothed cat (Bongino 2007; Nordt et al.
2015; Weist et al. 2016).
7.25 First National Park Service PaleoBlitz hosted
As part of the National Park Service Centennial Celebration, more than 100 Bioblitz events were
hosted in parks throughout the country. On 20–21 May 2016, the first official National Park
Service PaleoBlitz was hosted at Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma. The
PaleoBlitz consisted of two components including field paleontological resource inventories
conducted by a team of paleontologists, and a fossil education and outreach event for the public.
7.26 Establishment of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument recognizes fossils
On 24 August 2016, Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine, was established as
a unit of the National Park Service by President Barack Obama. According to the proclamation
the significance of the monument includes
bedrock spanning over 150 million years of the Paleozoic era, revealing a remarkably complete
exposure of Paleozoic rock strata with well-preserved fossils. (Barack Obama, Proclamation 9476).
Fossils were first reported from the area now within Katahdin Woods and Waters National
Monument during the American Civil War (Hitchcock 1861). Extensive fossil collections have
been obtained from the monument including at least four holotype fossil specimens (Clarke 1907;
Elias 1982).
8. PALEONTOLOGY AND THE SECOND CENTURY FOR THE NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE (BEYOND 2016)
The organization of this publication includes the history of paleontology associated with the
national parks to the 100th anniversary (centennial) of the National Park Service in 2016. The
collective history, involving fossils in at least 267 parks, is the foundation upon which a
paleontology program can grow during the second century for the National Park Service.
The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act regulatory process will have a profound
influence over the direction of paleontology for the National Park Service and other bureaus in
the Department of Interior. The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act mandates for
inventorying, monitoring, educational outreach, permitting, curation and resource protection, all
of which will enhance the stewardship of fossils on federal lands. New partnerships are being
formed between the primary paleontology-focused professional organizations and the National
Park Service to create opportunities to promote public engagement to support the management of
fossils in parks. It is anticipated that dozens of paleontology students will be recruited annually to
help parks with projects and outreach involving park fossils.
In addition to preserving fossils in the parks, the preservation of historic and scientific
archives and data associated with National Park Service fossils is critical. An organizational
framework for the National Park Service Paleontology Archives & Library has been developed
and will serve as an important repository for both digital and hardcopy documents, maps, photos
and other information pertaining to National Park Service fossils. This will be an extremely
important source for paleontology information for future National Park Service managers,
paleontologists, researchers and others.
The National Park Service will continue to coordinate the National Fossil Day partnership
and outreach activities to promote the scientific and educational values of fossils throughout the
United States. During 2017, the number of children who have taken the Junior Paleontologist
pledge will reach 100,000. A Spanish-language version of the Junior Paleontologist booklet is
VINCENT L. SANTUCCI
279
being developed and will be available in late 2017 to expand opportunities to reach Spanish-
speaking children.
The next chapters for the history of paleontology in the National Park Service will be
written in the upcoming years, decades and beyond. As the Junior Paleontologists grow up, the
paleontology interns complete their education, and the public and professional support for fossils
in parks expands, there will be many new stories to add to this rich history of National Park
Service paleontology. This journey has only begun and the future will most certainly help us to
better understand the past.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research and compilation of historical information related to such an extensive topic as the paleontology
of the national parks could not be accomplished without the support and guidance of many individuals.
Thanks to the many National Park Service paleontologists, geologists and other staff including:
James Hill (AGFO), Rachel Benton (BADL), Don Corrick (BIBE), Alison Mims (BLCA and CURE), Dan
Chure (DINO), Herb Meyer (FLFO), Arvid Aase (FOBU), Fred MacVaugh (FOUS), David Lassman, Amy
Muraca and Rijk Morawe (GEWA), Gorden Bell (GRBA retired), Ben Tobin, Ed Schenk, Colleen Hyde and
Kim Besom (GRCA), Nancy Russell (HFC), Judy Geniac, Greg McDonald and Kari Prassack (HAFO),
Patrick Malone and Don Weeks (NPS Intermountain Region), Karie Diethorn (INDE), Ted Fremd and Nick
Famoso (JODA), Erin Eichenberg (LAKE), Mike Antonioni (NACE), Heather Eggleston (NNL Program),
Bill Parker, Adam Marsh and Matthew Brown (PEFO), Ben Rizner (WUPA) and Jeff Ohlfs (NPS retired).
Additional thanks is extended to Erica Clites, Rebecca Hunt-Foster, Robyn Henderek, Cassie Knight, Emily
Thorpe, Christy Visaggi and over eighty paleontology interns who have helped uncover the fossil record for
the National Park Service.
Several National Park Service historians have recognized the importance of preserving our agency’s
history of geology and paleontology, in particular Harry Butowsky, Aubrey Haines (deceased) and Dick
Sellars to whom I extend my appreciation. A number of geologists and paleontologists with the U.S.
Geological Survey, academia and industry have graciously shared information regarding the history of
paleontology in the national parks including: George Billingsley, Robert Blodgett, Bill Cobban, Jack
Epstein, Wally Hansen, Jeff Pigati, David Soller, Kathleen Springer, Nancy Stamm, Rob Weems (USGS),
Sid Ash (Weber State University), Emmett Evanoff (University of Northern Colorado), Vance Haynes
(University of Arizona), John Ostrom (Yale University), Dave Parrish (NJ State Museum), Eric Scott
(California State University), Morris Skinner (American Museum of Natural History), Earle Spamer
(American Philosophical Society), and Don Curry (Shell Oil).
I recognize the continued support from the staff of the National Park Service Geologic Resources
Division, especially Dave Steensen, Harold Pranger, Lisa Norby, Jason Kenworthy, Jim Wood, Steve
Simon, Tim Connors, Bob Higgins (retired), Lindsay McClelland (retired) and Jim Woods (retired). Thanks
to Gary Cummins (National Park Service retired), Dave McGinnis (National Park Service retired), Michael
Barthelmes (GRD), Bethany DeGraeve, Bianca Santucci and Brianna Santucci for review of the manuscript.
A special thanks to paleontologist Justin Tweet and geologist Jason Kenworthy, who have both dedicated
themselves to help compile and preserve the fossil record from the National Park Service.
Finally, I would like to thank John Diemer (Editor of Earth Sciences History) and Kathleen Lohff
(History of Earth Science Society) for supporting the opportunity to publish a special issue of the journal of
Earth Sciences History which focuses on the history of geology in the National Park Service.
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