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The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology acts as a center for paleontological education and research by maintaining and continually expanding its outstanding collection of specimens, presently numbering over 80,000. The fossil collections consist of 57,000 vertebrate, 16,000 invertebrate, 2,000 plant, and 1000 trackway & footprint specimens, as well as many other miscellaneous specimens. The museum's fossil trackway collection is widely recognized as on eof the largest and most diverse in the nation. The museum's collections serve as the focal point of research and the source for exhibit and teaching specimens employed in education and public outreach. The fossil collections are available for study to qualified investigators through loan or by visiting the museum. The museum employs a computer database management system where the collections are organized stratigraphically. Examples of important holdings include: • Precambrian specimens from the Bass Limestone (Arizona). • Permian vertebrate and invertebrate trackways from the Coconino Sandstone (Arizona). • Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Kaiparowits Formation (Utah). • Miocene vertebrates and tracks from the Barstow Formation (California). This track collection contains many unique specimens, including a trackway of Amphicyon. • Mammals and tortoises from the White River Group (Chadron and Brule Formations) of Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota. • Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks from the Moenave Formation (Utah). • Late Cretaceous and early Paleocene vertebrates from eastern Montana (Hell Creek and Tullock Formations). • Mammal tracks from the Avawatz Formation (California). • Paleocene mammals from the Goler Formation (California). Over 95% of the museum’s specimens were found by staff and Webb students on peccary trips as the museum's acquisitions focus has always emphasized field exploration and discovery. Currently, the museum has three ongoing field research projects on public lands in California and Utah. Permits are required to collect vertebrate fossils on public lands and the museum has permits from the California State Office of the Bureau of Land Management and Utah State Office of the Bureau of Land Management. Fossils collected under the guidelines of these permits are permanently housed at the Alf Museum but remain the property of the people of the United States. We thank these government agencies for their help in securing permits and facilitating our research efforts. Current Research Goler Project This project is a collaboration which includes Don Lofgren, Malcolm McKenna (curator emeritus of American Museum of Natural History and 1948 graduate of Webb), and others. They have recovered tiny teeth and jaws that represent early types of mammals from the Goler Formation, a Paleocene-aged (60 million year old) rock unit exposed near Ridgecrest, California. The Goler Formation is very important because it is the only Paleocene-aged rock unit on the West Coast of North America that has yielded a diverse assemblage of fossil mammals and other vertebrates. Thus, the project is critical to discerning the paleontological history of California in the early post-dinosaur period. Malcolm McKenna recovered the first mammal jaw from the Goler Formation in 1952, but few fossils were found in the next 40 years. To improve this situation, screen-washing techniques were employed and these efforts were very successful as over 200 new specimens were found in the past 10 years (thanks in part to a grant from the National Geographic Society). These newly discovered specimens are being studied by Lofgren, McKenna, and Webb students. In addition to mammals, many turtle, crocodile, and lizard specimens have been recovered as well. Some mammal teeth have been identified as those of extinct primates and marsupials, the oldest records of these types of mammals from California. The Goler fossils tell us much about the fauna and climate of coastal California 60 million years ago and thus, this project has great scientific importance and will be a major focus of museum research for many years. North Horn Project Fossil vertebrates, including Cretaceous dinosaurs and Paleocene mammals, were first discovered in the North Horn Formation in the early 1930s. This and more recent work have shown that the North Horn is one of the best Paleocene mammal sites in North America. In 2000, a crew from the Alf Museum visited all the major Paleocene collecting sites in the North Horn. Since 2000, the museum has been concentrating their efforts on three avenues of research, which are: 1) The Cretaceous mammal fauna of the formation is poorly known and needs to be expanded; 2) The Gas Tank mammal fauna in the Paleocene part of the formation also is poorly known and new specimens need to be recovered; and 3) Further sampling of other Paleocene sites is needed as annual erosion of outcrop continues to expose new fossils. Alf Museum field crews work in conjunction with colleagues from the University of Oklahoma. Good progress has been made in this research effort and the project is slated to continue on a long–term basis. Kaiparowits Formation Project In 2006, the museum was granted a 3-year extension on its permit to collect dinosaurs and other fossils from the Late Cretaceous Kaipirowits Formation. Because much of the monument is inaccessible by vehicle, the Kaipirowits Formation is relatively unexplored. In 2004, an Alf Museum cre collected a hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur skull that was found by vlounteer Duncan Everhart. The skull was removed by helicopter and taken to the University of Utah where it was prepared and studied by university paleontologists. Because very few hadrosaur skulls have been recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation, the specimen discovered by Everhart is both extremely rare and scientifically important. The researchers at the University of Utah determined that the skull belonged to a new species of hadrosaur. In 2005, Webb student Jeff Cripe '08 made the next big discovery when he found a phalange (toe) of a medium sized theropod dinosaur at the bottom of a hill. Jeff and Duncan Everhart traced the bone up to its source where, in addition to hadrosaur remains, they discovered another phalange and two ankle bones of this theropod dinosaur. Back at the museum, Jeff and Dr. Lofgren determined that the bones belonged to a mid-sized tyrannosaur and review of scientific reports from the Kaiparowits Formation revealed that no one had described a tyrannosaur from the formation. In 2006, an Alf Museum crew returned to the tyrannosaur site, which was named the Cripe Site in honor of its discoverer, to search for more of the tyrannosaur. Excavation of the Cripe Site will preceed through the 2007 field season as well.
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