Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Adeline Warfield Hornbek

Charlotte Hill

In 2012, seven rangers were awarded the national and region Freeman Tilden Awards for innovative and exciting interpretive programs. Learn their stories and more about their award-winning programs.

Meet the recipients of the 2017 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service. These award recipients are recognized for their exceptional dedication and service to parks and programs.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, for the second year in a row, offered a free geology and paleontology camp for upper elementary students.

The Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago [MYA] through today) is the "Age of Mammals." North America’s characteristic landscapes began to develop during the Cenozoic. Birds and mammals rose in prominence after the extinction of giant reptiles. Common Cenozoic fossils include cat-like carnivores and early horses, as well as ice age woolly mammoths.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

In 2007, the Rocky Mountain Inventory and Monitoring Network—a small team of NPS scientists—began monitoring natural resources, called “vital signs,” in Florissant Fossil Beds and nearby park units. Vital signs indicate park health and serve as red flags if conditions deteriorate, supporting park managers’ efforts to make science-based management decisions. Learn about the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program and its work in Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Lush sedges, delicate mosses, and a rich variety of water-loving plants grow in the wetlands of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. But past and present disturbances, along with changing climate conditions, affect wetland condition in the park. Find out what Rocky Mountain Network scientists have learned about wetland conditions in the monument between 2009 and 2019.