THE SIGNIFICANT INVOLVEMENT OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND CONSERVATION AT THE FLORISSANT FOSSIL BEDS, COLORADO

Women have played starring roles in discovery, scientific research, conservation, and environmental activism since the discovery of the Florissant fossil beds more than 140 years ago. Homesteader Charlotte Hill collected fossil plants and insects beginning in the 1870s and provided many of the fossils that became the first type specimens. Biologist Wilmatte Cockerell worked with her husband T.D.A. Cockerell on expeditions to the site in 1906-08 and is attributed for finding many of the most outstanding specimens. The first scientific publication by a woman was contributed by Elizabeth Britton, a bryologist who described a rare fossil moss from Florissant in 1907 and who was one of only few women listed in the first edition of American Men of Science. Although outnumbered by men over the years, the contribution by women reemerged in force as the fossil beds came under threat of real estate development in 1969. Estella Leopold, who was a pioneering palynologist at USGS during the 1960s, organized a grassroots effort to save the site from destruction by real estate developers. Along with alpine ecologist Beatrice Willard and environmental activist Vim Wright, these women and others were ready to stand in front of bulldozers to block the construction. This effort, assisted by legal representation, resulted in a restraining order that gave time for Congress to establish Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument on August 20, 1969. Leopold was recognized for these achievements as the recipient of the International Cosmos Prize in 2010, the Paleontological Society Medal in 2013, and the Palynological Society Medal in 2013. With construction of a new visitor center in 2013, exhibits were developed highlighting current and past research of Florissant, with many of the panels featuring women researchers. The monument has supported an active paleontology internship program since 1997, hosting 60 interns and student employees of which 50 were women early in their scientific careers. The outcome of their many projects includes research, inventory and monitoring of fossil sites, excavations, collections management, and development of websites, educational outreach, and curriculum design. The role of women has been an important one to the foundation, conservation and ongoing history of the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.