CITIZEN SCIENTISTS AND DINOSAUR TRACKS: DISCOVERY, DOCUMENTATION, AND STEWARDSHIP

Dinosaur paleontology provides for a unique synergy that can combine the public’s interest in science with the federal mandate for the inventory, monitoring, and educational use of paleontological resources on public lands. Dinosaur fossils have been well known on the public lands of the Rocky Mountain West for over 150 years. Collaborative efforts with federal partners, the scientific community, and the general public can ensure that new discoveries and existing resources be managed and preserved using scientific principles and expertise. To that end, associations between researchers, land managers, and the public have been cultivated. Eager volunteers bring a diversity of backgrounds, talents, capabilities, and personalities to research projects. Paleontological research partnerships are effective means of data gathering, as well as increasing the understanding of fossil resources and the values of preservation and protection, as well as fostering an awareness of the significance of paleontological resources on public lands.

As paleontological resources on Bureau of Land Management-administered lands belong to the American public, utilizing citizen scientists for the collection of data is invaluable, especially in cases where the resources remain in-situ. Dinosaur tracksites in Wyoming (e.g., Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite) and Utah (e.g., Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite, Moccasin Mountain Tracksite) have served as excellent venues for the use of citizen scientists over the years. At these sites, enthusiastic, trained, and motivated volunteers engage in a wide variety of activities. Their contributions range from site discovery, cleaning, preparation, maintenance, and monitoring to documentation, data gathering, and mapping, as well as leading interpretive tours and serving as site stewards. Data gathered by citizen scientists not only consists of traditional ichnological measuring, mapping, and surveying, but also includes utilizing state-of-the-art techniques to capture stereoscopic images of track surfaces for detailed 3D photogrammetric processing. Data collected by the volunteer public (young and old alike) can be used by BLM and scientists to track new discoveries, observe changes to sites, and bring an energy, enthusiasm, and unique perspective to the field of paleontology.