Several fossil sites in the United States are under the protection of the National Park Service. Besides Agate, the major ones are:
Prominent deposits from the Oligocene Epoch, predecessor to the Miocene, combine with a rugged, eroded landscape and abundant wildlife to make Badlands a park where the natural processes of the past combine with those of today. The National Park Service maintains a Fossil Exhibit Trail at Badlands and presents fossil cleaning demonstrations. Prominent fossils are those of ancient camels, giant pigs, sabertooth cats, _Protoceras_, and _Brontotheres_. Mailing address: P.O. Box 6, Interior, SD 57750.
Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
The late Jurassic muds and sands of the Morrison Formation have been a major source of dinosaur bones for more than a century. Steeply tilted strata near Vernal, Utah, were the source of tons of bones for the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh. This quarry site became the nucleus of Dinosaur National Monument. The bone-bearing stratum has been exposed by careful excavation, so that bones and partial skeletons of numerous dinosaurs are exposed in high relief. The entire quarry face is covered by a glass-walled structure that forms a large gallery. Mailing address: 4545 E. Hwy. 40, Dinosaur, CO 81610.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado
This site has long been famous for its fossils of insects and plants preserved in fine-grained sediments. Specimens of _Brontothere_ indicate an Eocene age for the deposits. Mailing address: P.O. Box 185, Florissant, CO 80816.
Within the strata of this rock remnant of an ancient lake is one of the most extensive concentrations of fossilized freshwater fish known to science. The site is about 18 kilometers (11 miles) west of Kemmerer, Wyoming. Mailing address: P.O. Box 592, Kemmerer, WY 83101.
Here in the Late Triassic Chinle Formation are widespread deposits of petrified logs. Some are nearly 2 meters in diameter and 60 meters long (6.5 by 197 feet). Preserved in bright colors of opal and other minerals, the most common trees are relatives of the living monkey puzzle or Hawaiian star pine. Paleontologists believe many of the logs floated to the area in Triassic rivers and became stranded. In the museum are displays of various fossil plant species and animal fossils from the same deposits. Mailing address: P.O. Box 2217, Petrified Forest National Park, AZ 86028.