Petrified Forest has hosted paleontologists from all over the country for the last 100 years. They may be researching animals of the late Triassic era, fossil leaves, petrified wood, climate change, or any number of questions that the late Triassic rocks can answer.
The animals available to research include early dinosaurs, early mammals, and the ancestors of today’s crocodiles who were common in the large river system that was here at that time.
All the researchers who have used the park as a source of answers have found it to hold a wealth of data about the late Triassic, be accessible to their scholarly efforts through an active research permitting program, and valuable as a source because it is expected to be available for continued research in perpetuity.
And while scientists have been coming to the park for decades project by project, it is only in the last 15 years or so that the Petrified Forest Triassic environment has been understood well enough to provide a detailed context for all the research that has been conducted.