Saved in Time: The Fight to Establish Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado

Acknowledgments

xv Acknowledgments  Many contributors played important roles in the preparation of this book between 2008 and 2012. Writer John Stansfield worked with us in the early stages of the book, did much of the early editing, and collaborated with Estella Leopold to pen chapter 7. In particular, the authors owe a great debt of gratitude to Jonathan Cobb, who provided extensive comments on the structure and revision of the manuscript. Their assistance went a long way to make the book coherent and readable. We thank W. Clark Whitehorn and the entire editorial staff of the University of New Mexico Press for all aspects of the book’s production. Thanks go to Lynn Bahrych, who urged Estella Leopold to write the Florissant story, and her early reviews were helpful. The National Park Service fully supported Herb Meyer’s role as one of the authors. Various individuals provided support for the completion of this book on behalf of the National Park Service. Lindsay Walker, a paleontology intern at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument sponsored by the Geological Society of America’s GeoCorps Program, worked with us extensively during the final preparation of the book, drafting figures, organizing permission requests, photographing landscapes and fossils for several new figures, and providing helpful review comments for the entire manuscript. Conni O’Connor and Christina Whitmore, student employees in paleontology at the monument, worked exhaustively to carefully locate and inventory archival xvi Acknowledgments documents and review and format the manuscript. Tim Schad and Butch Street provided information about visitor use statistics, and James Crocket shared his knowledge about the long history of planning for a national monument visitor center at Florissant. Monument superintendent Keith Payne provided a constructive review of the first draft of the entire manuscript, and he painstakingly succeeded in pursuing the construction of a new visitor center, which enabled us to rewrite a happy ending for that section of the book. The National Park Service, through the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Units program, administered by Kathy Tonnessen, provided financial support for this project to Estella Leopold and the University of Washington. At the University of Washington, thanks are due for the excellent organizational assistance and impressive talent with graphics provided by Stephanie Zaborac-Reed and Jordan Holley. We thank Rebecca Gamboa for tracking down permissions for use of published material. In 2011, the Burke Museum provided helpful publicity for this book. Beth Simmons of Metro State College in Denver assisted in locating historical information about Charlotte Hill. John A. C. Wright and Chase Davies assisted us in finding the correct versions of photographs. Jack Loeffler of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Victor John Yannacone, jr., of New York; and Roger Hansen of Aurora, Colorado, provided helpful reviews of the text. Many wonderful people helped the Defenders of Florissant win the battle for Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in the 1960s. First and foremost were the legal team and key players, including Victor Yannacone, Richard Lamm, Tom Lamm, and Roger Hansen. Bettie Willard’s leadership and contributions to the Florissant story are bountiful. For inspiration on the value the fossil beds, much is owed to paleobotanist Harry D. MacGinitie, whom the authors greatly admired. Colorado congressmen and senators, including Representative Frank Evans, Representative Don Brotzman, Representative Byron Rogers, Senator Gordon Allott, and Senator Peter Dominick, carried the torch in Washington. In Denver, Amy Roosevelt was helpful with tutorials on editing news releases. Most critical in keeping the public aware of developments were Cal Raines for local TV coverage and various Colorado radio stations for excellent support. Home team support in Colorado was provided by Sandy Cooper, who worked with Bettie Willard at the Thorne Ecological Institute in Boulder, and Elena Slusser, secretary at the Colorado Open Space Coordinating Council office in Denver. Grateful thanks also go to the brave crew who xvii Acknowledgments helped locate the developer’s bulldozers, including leader Vim Crane Wright, along with Carolyn Johnson, Hollie Buchan, “Didda” Buchan, and Mary Burton. Many folks assisted the Colorado Open Space Coordinating Council and wrote to their members of Congress and/or testified in the Senate hearing , including Ruth and Bob Weiner, Karen Porter, Kay Collins, Susan Marsh, Hugh Kingery, Rick and Dorie Bradley, Bill Bradley, Dick Beidleman, Larry Crowley, Karen Hillhouse, Nancy Swank, Roger Sanborn’s Boys Camp, Thea Phinney, Harry Swift, Charles Agerholm, Elaine Appell, and untold more. Special thanks to Ed Connors and the other Coloradans who helped...