Paleontology of National Parks (Drake Hall)
OSHR 8050The national park system protects a variety of national treasures, both cultural and natural. Out of the 400-plus units are parks that contain spectacular fossils. There are ten national parks set aside specifically for fossils, but fossils are known from many other parks as well. While some of these are very familiar, such as Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado and the Petrified Forest in Arizona, others are more obscure. Come learn about some of the new fossil parks and parks not as well known for their fossils. Learn about the history of the Earth from a park's eye view and behind the scenes of the paleontological research that takes place at parks.
Dr. Greg McDonald is a retired regional paleontologist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Before transferring to the BLM, he worked for the National Park Service as the Senior Curator of Natural History in the Washington Museum Management Program, as Paleontology Program Coordinator in the Geologic Resources Division, and as the paleontologist at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. Before working for the government, Greg was Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and collections manager for vertebrate paleontology at the Idaho Museum of Natural History. He earned his doctorate at the University of Toronto, a master's degree at the University of Florida, and a bachelor’s degree at Idaho State University. His research focuses on the extinct giant ground sloths and their relatives and Plio-Pleistocene mammals of North and South America. He is a co-editor of Smilodon: The Iconic Sabretooth and a co-author of The White River Badlands – Geology and Paleontology.
Notes
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Recommendations
- https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/index.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/history-of-paleontology-in-the-national-park-service.htm
- https://home.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/outreach-materials.htm
- https://www.rockngem.com/paleontology-in-the-parks/
- http://www.npshistory.com/publications/paleontology/uga-28-589.pdf
- http://www.npshistory.com/publications/paleontology/grdtr-99-03-4.pdf