Fossils in our parklands:
Examples of UCMP service and stewardship

National Fossil Day / October 13, 2010

The National Park Service, organizers of this first National Fossil Day, describe the event as "… a celebration … to promote public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as to foster a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational values."

In support of this celebration, UCMP is pleased to highlight some of the fossils in its collections that were recovered from park lands, both national and state. Many of the fossils were collected before the parks came into existence, and in many cases, such as the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon and the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, UCMP was instrumental in the creation of those parks.

Click on the links below to learn more about these parks, their paleontological significance, and the UCMP collections.

• Año Nuevo State Park, California
• Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada
• Bureau of Land Management: Red Hill, Nevada
• Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management: The Hell Creek Formation, Montana
• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon
• Red Rock Canyon State Park, California
• Shasta-Trinity National Forest: Samwell Cave, California

Florissant and John Day photos by Dave Smith.