HISTORY OF PALEONTOLOGY IN UTAH NATIONAL PARKS DuringfiveexpeditionsintoUtahledbyCaptainJohn C. Fremont between 1842 and 1854 (Rolle, 1991), rock, mineral and fossil specimens were collected and sent to geologistandpaleontologistJamesHallinNewYork. Hall contributeddescriptionsoftheUtahfossilsasanappendix in Fremont’s 1845 report (Fremont, 1845). This work rep- resents the first scientific publication to document Utah’s geologicresources(Willis,1996). Captain Howard Stansbury explored Utah in 1850, searching for a railroad route across the Wasatch Moun- tains. During this survey, Stansbury collected fossils that he sent to James Hall for identification. Hall described these fossils in Stansbury’s published report (Stansbury, 1852). In1859,theremainsofthefirstdinosaurfromtheUtah TerritorywerediscoveredbyJohnS.Newberry,amember of Captain John N. Macomb’s survey party. This partial skeletonwaslaterstudiedanddescribedbypaleontologist Edward D. Cope who named the specimen Dystrophaeus viaemalae (Cope, 1877; Barnes, 1988; Gillette, 1996). The fossilisaLateJurassicsauropoddinosaurcollectedinthe basal Morrison Formation. After the American Civil War, there was renewed in- terestinwestwardexpansion. Congressfundedfourgreat surveysofthewesternterritoriesduringthelate1860sand 1870s (Bartlett, 1962). Three scientific civilian surveys were organized under Ferdinand V. Hayden, Clarence E. King,andJohnWesleyPowell(figure1). Onemilitarysur- veywasformedandledbyLieutenantGeorgeM.Wheel- er. Allfourofthesesurveysspentsometimemappingand documenting geologic resources in Utah. Paleontologist F.B.MeeksparticipatedinboththeHaydenandKingsur- veysandauthoredreportsonfossilscollectedinUtah. Yale paleontologist O.C. Marsh conducted field work in the Utah Territory during 1870. Marsh crossed the Uinta Mountains and traveled into the Uinta Basin where his field party discovered Eocene mammals, turtles, the rare Cretaceous crinoid Uintacrinus, and the second di- nosaur specimen from Utah (Marsh, 1871). Marsh’s di- nosaurwasthefirsttheropoddinosaurknownfromUtah and was found near the current west boundary of Di- nosaurNationalMonument(BilbeyandHall,1999). A dinosaur bonebed (Carnegie Quarry) was discov- ered in northeastern Utah in 1909 by Carnegie Museum 589 An Overview of National Park Service Paleontological Resources from the Parks and Monuments in Utah VincentL.Santucci 1 andJamesI.Kirkland 2 GeologyofUtah’sParksandMonuments 2010UtahGeologicalAssociationPublication28(thirdedition) D.A.Sprinkel,T.C.Chidsey,Jr.,andP.B.Anderson,editors 1 NationalParkService,Gettysburg,PA 17325 2 UtahGeologicalSurvey,SaltLakeCity,UT84114-6100 ABSTRACT TheNationalParkService(NPS)administersthirteenparkunitswithinthestateofUtah. Mostoftheseparks,monu- ments,andotherNPSunitshavebeenestablishedandarerecognizedfortheirsignificantgeologicfeatures. Fossiliferous rocksofPaleozoic,Mesozoic,andCenozoicagehavebeenidentifiedinalloftheNationalParkSystemunitsinUtah. In 1998,thefirstcomprehensiveinventoryofpaleontologicalresourcesinthenationalparksandmonumentsofUtahwasini- tiated. A wide diversity of fossilized plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, and trace fossils has been documented. Paleonto- logical resources identified from within the parks and monuments have been assessed relative to their scientific signifi- cance,potentialthreats,andmanagementasnon-renewableresources. Considerablefocushasbeendirectedtowardsthe insitu managementoftheabundantfossilvertebratetracksidentifiedthroughouttheMesozoicformationswithinatleast sevenNPSareasinUtah. Thebaselinepaleontologicalresourcedataobtainedduringthisinventorywillassistparkstaff withimprovedmanagementoftheirpaleontologicalresourcesandprotectionoffossilswithintheirpark.