The human dimensions of paleontological resources: contributing to science, stewardship, and conservation in National Park Service areas

Santucci, Vincent

Paleontologists strive to fill in the gaps in the fossil record. Those few paleontologists working for federal land managing agencies encounter a multitude of fossil management issues that are not traditionally part of their education and training in paleontology and are often unfamiliar to many professional paleontologists. This research was designed to better understand the relationships between people and fossils. Presented here is a conceptual framework for assessing the human dimensions of paleontological resources based upon the diversity of values that people ascribe to fossils. This research focuses primarily upon fossil-related issues identified within the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) including the two-hundred and eighty-seven parks currently known to preserve fossils. The mission of the NPS is defined in part by statutory and regulatory mandates which are integrated with scientific principles and resource management practices. NPS paleontologists embody the principles of the 1916 Organic Act (codified as Title 54 of the U.S. code) by safeguarding the complex mission of ensuring resource stewardship while promoting public enjoyment are applied to park paleontological resources. Surveys exploring the relationships between park visitors and fossils were undertaken at two national parks with distinctly different scope, significance, distribution, and management issues associated with the respective park’s paleontological resources. Badlands National Park, South Dakota, was selected for this study based upon the park’s rich, abundant, and relatively accessible paleontological resources and the complex fossil management issues documented at the park. Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, was selected because of the relatively recent discovery of fossils in remote locations in the park which have received considerable media attention increasing public awareness and interest in the park’s fossils. The demographic data and descriptive statistics presented here are intended to inform park managers about visitor perspectives involving park paleontological resources and their management. An additional component of this research focuses on National Fossil Day (NFD) and data obtained through a survey of NFD partners. The NPS funded this survey in 2016 to inform and guide the agency’s coordination of the NFD outreach partnerships established to promote the scientific and educational values of fossils. The results of this 2016 NFD partner survey are presented with discussion of the role this nationwide celebration serves in promoting fossil stewardship with the public. Collectively, the development of the conceptual framework for the human dimensions of paleontological resources, the results of the two exploratory visitor surveys, and the data obtained by surveying NFD partners to fill in some gaps in knowledge associated with paleontological resources management and the stewardship of fossils on federal and other public lands.

The human dimensions of paleontological resources: contributing to science, stewardship, and conservation in National Park Service areas

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