Tour of Park Geology - Fossils

National Parks contain a rich array of plant, invertebrate, vertebrate, and trace fossils. Fossils are non-renewable and often fragile resources which, with the exception of microfossils and those that make up minerals, such as coal, are relatively rare and have significant scientific, educational and recreational values. Fossils in the National Parks are a part of America's heritage. For nearly a century, the National Park Service has protected fossils in parks, requiring permits for their excavation and removal, with the stipulation that the resources remain in federal ownership in perpetuity.

Paleontology

• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska
• Badlands National Park, South Dakota
• Channel Islands National Park, California
• Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada
• Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
• Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado
• Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park, New Mexico and Texas
• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon
• Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
• Yellowstone National Park, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, CO