GEOHERITAGE SITES: ESSENTIAL FOR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION

Field instruction in the form of class activities, day trips, regional excursions, and field camps has traditionally been central to geoscience education. Field sites are a precious part of our teaching portfolio that must be preserved for the education and appreciation of future generations of geoscientists and the general public. Unfortunately, “classic” field localities are increasingly closed to geoscience education as private lands are being sub-divided or licensed for exclusive use, and even public lands managed by the USGS and BLM are requiring special use permits. A discipline-wide call to action is needed to secure access to geoheritage sites in perpetuity: 1) A national inventory of “iconic” geoheritage sites is needed. This includes sites that reveal special geologic occurrences, processes, history, or history of the geosciences. Regional road logs and field guides, often relegated to the “gray” literature, should be included in this inventory as they often provide the primary geologic contexts and knowledge that enable inquiry and discovery about an area. GSA and NAGT regional sections should recommend their best sites. 2) An online database needs to be developed to archive geologic data about each geoheritage site. This can include maps, cross sections, results of analytical studies, and portfolios of images (field shots, photomicrographs), and should grow as more information becomes available. This database can also include scaffolded educational materials from K-12 to collegiate levels and for the general public. 3) Geoscientists should engage a proactive outreach campaign to landowners and land managers to explain the scientific and educational value of identified lands. Hopefully, we can get land managers to understand the intrinsic value of these sites and get “buy-in” for commitments to allow access. 4) Geoscientists must adopt an ethic that these sites are too precious to allow indiscriminate sampling; leave the hammers in the van, or at least collect from talus or off-trail. 5) Geoscience professional societies should lobby local, state and federal governments to establish universal access policies (education as a multiple use on USFS lands) and the equivalent of conservation easements to encourage landowners to permit access. Geoheritage sites are a legacy we can’t afford to lose.