135-2 Standardizing the non-standard: Applying paleontological resource management across multiple unique units of some of America’s most fossil-rich National Parks

Session: Science and Stewardship of U.S. National Park Service Paleontological Resources

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National Park Service units implement a shared departmental mission of protecting all resources unimpaired; a mission that was established upon the creation of the National Park Service with the Organic Act of 1916. While NPS units cohesively conserve and manage resources following this fundamental purpose, each unit tends to administratively operate as a distinct microcosm because each unit contends with unique factors such as designation focus, geographic and environmental setting, and varying resources. This unit-specific resource management framework includes paleontological resources. A positive advancement that propelled paleontological resources management toward a more structured approach arose with the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009. Even so, implementational practices for fossil resources within NPS resource management programs, at the unit level, are non-standard. Some reasons for the difficulty to bridge unit-specific fossil resource programs include vast differences in fossil types, abundances, temporal and spatial geological context, and the difficulty in procuring funding for qualified staff to manage fossils appropriately.

In 2024, the NPS established a shared paleontologist position, a first for the NPS Paleontology Program, to provide support for five units known to contain significant fossil resources but lacking paleontological staff: Death Valley National Park, Great Basin National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. The shared paleontologist has combed through existing practices between these multiple units, stitched together streamlined techniques, and optimized effective paleontological resource management practices for field and desktop work. This shared position has also identified new or unique opportunities to link together and enhance the paleontology programs between NPS units, and is working toward uniting disparate paleontological resource programs by implementing a standardized resource management approach.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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