2015 GSA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (1-4 November 2015)

Paper No. 188-8
Presentation Time: 10:15 AM

THE PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION ACT: A HISTORICAL LOOK, AND A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF PRESENT DAY ISSUES


LEIGGI, Patrick, Paleontology, Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University, 600 West Kagy Blvd., Bozeman, MT 59717 and VLAMIS, Ted J., Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814, pleiggi@montana.edu

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) worked for nearly 18 years to protect fossils on federal lands beginning in the 102nd Congress, until the 111th Congress enacted the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA) in 2009 as a public law. This talk will discuss some of the key issues that confronted vertebrate paleontologists and inspired them to pursue legislation, the challenges encountered to develop public policy, and notes some of the issues that American institutions and paleontologists are facing today.