Abstract: One of the paleontologically richest parts of the United States is the geologically complex region from the Colorado Plateau west to the Pacific coast. Many standout National Park Service units are also found in this region. In order to better understand and manage the paleontological resources of these parks, the Paleontology Program of the NPS has supported a variety of projects over the past few years. This presentation will give an overview of this work, highlighting such paleontological hot spots as Channel Islands National Park, Death Valley National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Parashant National Monument, and others. Expect a little bit of everything, from Precambrian microbial slime, to Mississippian sharks, to wandering Permian tetrapods, to Jurassic ammonites, to Miocene sea cows, to a now-vanished late Pleistocene spring-fed ecosystem that once flourished from southern Nevada into southeastern California.

Biography: Justin is a research consultant who works closely with the Paleontology Program of the National Park Service’s Geologic Resources Division. He earned a BA with a major in geology and a minor in biology from the University of St. Thomas in 2003, as a student of Lisa Lamb and Tom Hickson. He earned a master’s degree in geology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006, where he was a student of Karen Chin.