INVENTORY AND UPDATING THE WHITE RIVER GROUP COLLECTIONS FOR THE MOVE TO THE NEW PALEONTOLOGICAL REPOSITORY AT THE MUSEUM OF GEOLOGY, SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY

The collections at the Museum of Geology and Paleontology Research Laboratory at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM) were started in 1889 and currently number over 300,000 specimens. A large number of these specimens have been recovered from the extensive White River Badlands of South Dakota and Nebraska (Oligocene through Miocene). Most of these are from Federal land-management agencies for which SDSM acts as a repository partner. These fossils have been used as the basis for extensive research, teaching and training for over 80 years.

In 2009 SDSM started construction of the new Paleontological Research Laboratory. SDSM has made a complete review and inventory of these holdings possible for the first time in many years. The extent and complexity of the White River Badlands fossil holdings and their associated data have made this a particularly important project. The principal goal of this project was to move the fossils into the best possible biostratigraphic sequence, in order to facilitate future retrieval and research. Secondarily, the project will separate the White River Badlands collection into three administrative sub-collections: those associated with Badlands National Park (North Unit), those associated with Badlands National Park and the Pine Ridge Reservation (South Unit), and the remaining White River Badlands fossils from all other public and private lands. This project will be ongoing through 2011, and should result in much finer-grained and accurate data for all specimens, as well as better management of fossil collections with multiple stakeholders.