In recent years paleontology has witnessed explosive popularity in schools at all grade levels as well as among the general public. It is ironic that although paleontology continues to receive such interest and attention, teaching and research programs at universities, industry, museums and elsewhere are in decline with fewer positions committed to paleontology and less interest in collecting or storing fossils. Yet, the fact remains that paleontology is a cornerstone of geologic and evolutionary science, as well as having important contributions to make towards discovering and evaluating natural resources. The truths recognized more than a century ago by F. B. Meek and A. H. Worthen (1866), although written in a style that belies its age, are still appropriate:

“When it is therefore borne in mind, that coal and other valuable minerals were not indiscriminately distributed through the earth, but were mainly formed or deposited, at least in quantities and under conditions to be useful to man, during particular geological periods, the importance of knowing to what epoch of the earth's history the rocks of any given district belong, before undertaking mining enterprises of any kind, will be readily understood, and the intelligent general reader will at once comprehend why it is that geologists give so much attention to fossils. In short, the first and most important step in the prosecution of a geological survey, is a careful and thorough study and investigation of the organic remains found in every seam and stratum of the rocks of the district to be explored; for without a knowledge of these, all conclusions in regard to the geological structure of the country, or of the age and position in the geological column of its rocks, must necessarily be vague and unreliable. Indeed, without the aid of Palaeontology, Geology would scarcely be entitled to rank as a science at all.”