Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument contains one of the most complete records of an Eocene forest ecosystem. Scientists have only recently begun to understand the complex processes by which fossils here at Florissant Fossil Beds have been preserved. Remarkably, the process of fossilization depended a great deal on little-known microscopic animals called Diatoms!

Notice as you browse through these pages of plants and insects, the fact that we have preserved at Florissant a wonderful snapshot of a nearly complete forest ecosystem with plants, herbivores and their predators. Florissant gives us the opportunity to witness a moment in time during a point in Earth's history when the global climate was beginning to drastically change. It is our duty as stewards of this land to preserve this valuable resource for our children to study and learn from, just as we are today.

All images on the following pages use a metric ruler for scale, to familiarize yourself with the metric system, please visit our scale page.
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