Dare to Imagine: ReBecca Hunt-Foster

Women Lifting Other Women

I am both inspired by the people who came before me and have worked hard to preserve this great park I have the opportunity to work in, but also the prehistoric animals themselves, who, without interested learners, might not ever be studied, or known. This knowledge helps color the history of our world, giving depth of time to life on this planet, and serving as a gateway science to both young and old individuals.
-ReBecca Hunt-Foster

ReBecca, what project would you like to highlight?

I would like to highlight Paleontology and Museum Sciences, through the lens of process and collections. We have been working to upgrade our museum collections. Often museum collections, such as fossils, are thought of as being excavated and then on display, but the cleaning and collections management aspects are often overlooked. Highlighting these important aspects in the context of the story at Dinosaur National Monument, where we hold a world renowned fossil collection that fell into neglect and disrepair, can help highlight the work taking place to improve collections, making them more accessible to researchers and meeting National Park Service standards.

Dinosaur National Monument Museum collections, currently housed at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum

Will you tell us a little about the project?

Dinosaur National Monument's paleontological collections represent the primary resources addressed by the original 1915 monument enabling legislation. These collections are mission critical because paleontology is the primary and only resource identified in the Monument’s original enabling legislation. The Monument’s primary and most critical mission is to conserve and interpret its fragile fossil resources, which are curated in the Monument’s museum collection. Many of the specimens held in the monument’s collections are rare or unique fossils that have not been identified anywhere else on the planet. Some specimens are still in their original field jackets and have not been cataloged or received any conservation treatments after a decade or more, and were being stored in poor conditions, putting these resources in serious danger.

Geoscientists-in-the-parks interns Rowan Lee and Rudy Hummel moving fossils into new storage cabinets.

Through a funding request, we were able to hire two people to work for two years in our museum collections to aid in the conservation and stabilization of these fossils and other museum items. We were able to move the majority of the museum collections into new cabinets, and construct custom cavity mounts, support cradles and bedding jackets, for fragile specimens. The project has measurably increase the conservation treatment of fossil specimens in the entire collection. Specimens are now more efficiently organized and securely housed utilizing less cabinet and shelf space in the collections. Good organization and housing that prevents damage due to handling has resulted in less work in the finding and repairing specimens as well.

How did you get to where you are now? What was your path like?

In graduate school I had the opportunity to work in Big Bend National Park, which really reaffirmed my love for our public lands. After earning my Masters Degree at Texas Tech University in 2005 I worked in Glacier National Park as a paleontologist for a summer before moving to Augustana College, where I worked as a paleontology research assistant for 3 years. I then moved to the Museum of Western Colorado's Dinosaur Journey Museum, where I worked as paleontology collections manager and field lead for the next 4 years. Afterwards I took a job with the Bureau of Land Management as district paleontologist in Canyon Country District, located in southeastern Utah, where I worked for five and a half years before moving on to Dinosaur National Monument in 2018.

What was the hardest part about getting to where you are now? How did you overcome it?

Realizing that I did not need a Ph.D. to become a paleontologist. I had the opportunity to do a variety of career and skill building jobs that have lead me to my current position. It took much persistence, support and tenacity, but the wonderful community I have in paleontology and beyond was both encouraging and inspiring to keep me moving forward.

ReBecca and her family excavating a Brachiosaurus humerus, found on Utah State Land in southern Utah.

What are you most proud of?

Meeting (and occasionally exceeding) my goals to become a paleontologist, while also managing a wonderful home and family life.

Favorite Quote?

The Dare to Imagine Project is funded by an Innovation and Impact Grant provided by the National Park Foundation. This grant supports projects and programs that help the National Park Service share a more comprehensive American narrative that includes the voices of women whose vision, tenacity, and resilience moved them to climb mountains, take down barriers, shape history, protect the environment, and lead social movements. Read more of these women's stories on the Dare to Imagine page.