The purpose of this report is to provide a preliminary inventory of the paleontological resources within the newly created Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for two principal reasons. First, in establishing the monument, President Clinton proclaimed the opportunities for scientific study, expounding at length on the paleontological resources and sites. He directed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to develop a management plan for the monument within three years. Information on the location, extent, and importance of paleontological resources needs to be available to the monument planners, to paleontologists and other scientists, and to the interested public to help determine how these resources will be incorporated into the management plan. Will scientists be allowed to excavate specimens or sites? Can a sample be removed for additional study or curation? Are there sites that should be exposed in place and protected for public appreciation? These and many other questions will have to be answered in the management plan. The more information that can be provided to the BLM, the better they should be able to anticipate the location and size of potential impacts from scientific research.

"This publication is intentionally 'different' from other archaeological overviews, referred to as Class I overviews, because our intended audience extends beyond land managers. Monument officials and the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance (CPAA) have long shared a conviction that preservation of archaeological resources can be fostered only when the public understands and appreciates the scientific value of those resources. In effect, the public cannot fully embrace preservation if they have little or no understanding of the importance of archaeological resources, especially if those resources might lack perceived visual appeal. This monograph, revised from a more technical report (Spangler et al. 2019), is intended to be intelligible, informative, and enjoyable to the general public, while also being useful to land managers in the future"--Page 4.

A fascinating and accessible introduction to the principles of physical and historical geology. For the millions who visit them each year, U.S. national parklands offer a glittering spectacle of natural wonders. But beyond the spectacular scenery, these national treasures have a much bigger, more awe-inspiring tale to tell--a sprawling story of upheaval and transformation, involving forces and time-spans almost beyond imagining. The purpose of this book is to provide you with the knowledge you need to read and interpret that story, and to make visits to the parklands even more special. Requiring no prior familiarity with the geological sciences, this region-by-region exploration of the U.S. parklands teaches the principles of physical and historical geology by example. It begins with a general introduction to all important concepts, terms, and principles. In the chapters that follow, the authors take you on a tour through the geological regions of the United States. Beginning with Hawaii and the Pacific borderlands and moving progressively eastward to the Appalachian Mountains and the coastal plains of the East Coast, they provide you with a geologist's-eye view of the landforms, mountains, and bodies of water encountered in over 70 national parks and monuments, and tell the fascinating story of their evolution. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 300 stunning photographs and maps and featuring greatly expanded coverage of the geological story, history, and culture of U.S. parks and monuments, this new edition of Dr. David Harris's classic text is an ideal introduction to the principles of geology for students and nature enthusiasts alike.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument contains abundant fossil material in most formations within its borders. These formations range in age from Permian to Cretaceous. More than 800 individual fossil localities are known so far, and almost all areas of the monument that were examined contain at least some fossil material. Important new findings of this survey include: several partial dinosaur skeletons in the Kaiparowits Formation; a ceratopsian skull in the Wahweap Formation; the previously unreported presence of many ammonoid and bivalve genera in the monument in the Dakota, Tropic, and Straight Cliffs Formations; the first fossils of any kind from the Entrada Sandstone within the monument, including a dinosaur tracksite containing more than 250 tracks of at least 30 individuals; previously unrecognized sites and abundances of vertebrate ichnogenera in the Navajo, Kayenta, Moenave, and Chinle Formations; the first ichnofossil material from the Wingate Sandstone in the monument; and a previously unreported sponge genus from the Kaibab Limestone. The Cretaceous rocks exposed within the monument contain one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world. Research on these strata is still in its earliest stages.