Breaking Down Navajo Sandstone: Grand Staircase-Escalante NM 25th Anniversary Science Presentation

Presenter: David Loope
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) provides boundless opportunities for scientists to conduct research both on present day topics and the distant past. Geologists and paleontologists can research the evolution of our biosphere, landscape evolution, and internal and external earth processes for the last 260 million years. Dozens of new dinosaur and other vertebrate species both large and small have been found and described, with many more awaiting discovery and/or description. In fact, the rate of fossil discovery makes it one of the most productive areas for vertebrate fossil research in the world. Entomologists have documented a staggering diversity of modern bees, and archeologists have been able to show the region was an important cultural interface between the Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan peoples. Other scientists such as biologists, botanists, social scientists, and historians also have unparalleled opportunities to learn about the Colorado Plateau’s flora, fauna, and history.
This video series will take you inside the monument for a glimpse across the landscape. In this series, we hope you learn more about some of the contributions to conservation that a few of our BLM and partner researchers have uncovered in this place many affectionately call their living laboratory.