The Act Itself
The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act was implemented through the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This Omnibus Act contains other provisions that are not the focus of this section of the guide.
The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act is implemented through agencies and it is a call for cooperation between agencies to preserve and protect these resources. The statute calls for the development of appropriate plans for inventory, monitoring, and the scientific and educational use of paleontological resources in accordance with agency laws, regulations, and policies.
What the Act Covers?
The Act covers paleontological resources which means any fossilized remains, traces, or imprints of organisms, preserved in or on the earth's crust, that are of paleontological interest and that provide information about the history of life on earth.
What is Excluded?
This Act expressly excludes any archaeological resource or cultural item. This Act also excludes all Indian lands from federal lands.
What Does the Act Apply to?
The Act applies to the resources listed above when they are on federal lands. Federal lands are land controlled or administered by the Secretary of Agriculture or Interior.
Law Review Articles
Patrick K. Duffy & Lois A. Lofgren, Jurassic Farce: A Critical Analysis of the Government's Seizure of "Sue," A Sixty-Five-Million-Year-Old Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil, 39 S.D. L. Rev. 478 (1994), provides a a recounting of the context that sparked the creation of the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act.
MAN OVER MATTER--ARPA, PRPA, AND SOME KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM, 2012 No. 2 RMMLF-INST Paper No. 6, provides an analysis of the differences between this Act and the ARPA which this guide also covers.
Marina F. Rothberg, Indiana Jones and the Illicit Excavation and Trafficking of Antiquities: Refining Federal Statutes to Strengthen Cultural Heritage Protections, 63 B.C. L. Rev. 1555 (2022), provides an overview of PARA, ARPA, And NAGPRA.
DIGGING IN: AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCE ACTS: THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, 56 RMMLF-INST 14A-1 (2010), this article provides an overview of the PRPA and the ARPA.