LOOSING TRACK OR KEEPING TRACK: THE CHALLENGES OF COMPILING A FOSSIL FOOTPRINT DATABASE FOR THE WESTERN USA

Are we loosing track (or keeping track) of the numerous fossil footprints sites being discovered in the western USA? Historically many lost sites had to be rediscovered, and until recently there were few systematic attempts to document localities or use GPS and GIS systems. No single organization is responsible for compiling such a database outside their land ownership jurisdiction. Thus, many databases exist only for local geographic agencies.

In 1995 the CU Denver Dinosaur Tracks Museum and research group reported more than 500 fossil footprints sites known from the Late Paleozoic through Tertiary of the western United States. Most of these sites were from the Mesozoic of the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, with an additional 50+ sites reliably documented from Texas. Reports of tracksites from other western states (CA, OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, SD, ND, NE, KS, OK) are far less numerous, though in Wyoming the tally grows appreciably.

A decade later the estimated number of known sites has probably doubled or even tripled, allowing for initial underestimates. For example reported sites from the Morrison Formation have increased from 32-52+ and Dakota Group sites have increased from 40 to 60+. There has also been a steady increase in the discovery of sites from formations previously considered track-poor (e.g. Wingate, Summerville, Cedar Mountain among others). Significantly, the CU Denver group (and museum collection of 1600+ specimens) now represents only one of several track research centers. The New Mexico Museum of Nature and Science also holds large Paleozoic collections and has seen a renaissance in track research. The St George Dinosaur Discovery Center is built around a collection of more than 500 high-quality Lower Jurassic tracks, and active research. Thus, three states have track research centers

Some agencies, notably the BLM, National Park Service (NPS) and USDA Forest Service, have encouraged and/or sponsored inventory of tracksites (and other fossil resources) at selected locations. For example NPS surveys at Dinosaur National Monument, Glen Canyon and Arches have all reported many sites. We are a long way from a regional database for the entire western USA, but compilation of list for various defined geographic regions such as parks is perhaps a logical fist step.