John Day Fossil Beds Administrative History

INTRODUCTION

Scope and format of the narrative

This is the first administrative history prepared for John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It is also one of the first administrative histories sponsored by the NPS for an area where fossils are the primary resource. Administrative histories are intended to provide present and future monument staff with pertinent background on how a park took form. They have two main components: 1) how the park came to be established; and 2) issues associated with subsequent administration and management. More exhaustive contextual treatment of the monument's human history is left for a historic resource study to address because that document should identify and evaluate properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

As background to the monument's establishment, the first chapter of this administrative history summarizes some defining patterns and events which predate state parks in the basin. This is followed by a chapter showing how the three state parks created a footprint through which eventual authorization of the monument became possible. What transpired as a result of the NPS planning process from 1967 to 1979 is described in the third and fourth chapters, while the last three chapters provide some detail on significant issues and thrusts in the monument's administration.

Chapter format in this administrative history is chronological, moving from somewhat broad to more specific treatment. Source citations appear as notes at the end of each chapter and should act as a guide to relevant correspondence, documents, and files. Copies of this material are, for the most part, housed as archives in the monument's museum collection.

End of Introduction