Parks Stewardship Forum

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (THRO) in western North Dakota that comprises badlands that surround the Little Missouri River in three separate units. Established initially as a national memorial park in 1947 and redesignated as a national park with its current boundaries in 1978, THRO was founded for its connection to its namesake, the United States president, and continues to memorialize Roosevelt’s ideals of stewardship with its management of its diverse cultural and natural resources. The badlands in the park expose the highly fossiliferous Paleocene-age Bullion Creek and Sentinel Butte Formations that have been investigated extensively outside of the park’s boundaries but not as much within them. Following a survey between 1994 and 1996 and later paleontological discoveries in the park, a Paleontological Resource Inventory was conducted during 2020 and 2021 to gauge these resources within THRO and determine best management and protection practices. This inventory was put to the test in monitoring for fossil resources preceding two road construction projects in the park: on the South Loop Road in 2021 and the Buck Hill Road in 2023. The inventory gave information as to what paleontological resources were to be encountered during construction, including known fossil occurrences and localities within and surrounding the project area. Results of monitoring included the discovery of new paleontological material, including bird material and well-preserved angiosperm fossils around the South Loop Road, and a potentially high-yield vertebrate site including choristodere (an extinct aquatic reptile), bowfin, and turtle material near Buck Hill Road. These instances demonstrate the importance of paleontological resource inventories as a foundation for resource monitoring preceding construction projects.