Dr. Herb Meyer joined the staff at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in 1994 as the first full time paleontologist. Herb retired on June 30, 2023. He earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Paleontology from the University of California, Berkeley where he specialized in a paleobotany, more specifically using fossil plants to understand paleoelevation. Prior to accepting the position at the monument, he was an instructor at the Malheur Field Station in Oregon and a postdoctoral research associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where he worked on Oligocene fossil plants from the John Day Formation in Oregon. Since accepting the position as the monument's paleontologist, he has established a strong research program and a successful paleontology intern program. He designed a comprehensive website documenting the Florissant fossil collections at 20 different museums (https://planning.nps.gov/flfo/), and he was instrumental in designing content for the exhibit area in the new visitor center. He is also an adjunct curator at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Three of the books he has authored or co-authored are available using the links below:
Conni O'Connor, the monument's museum technician, joined the paleontology staff in 2010 as a volunteer before being hired through the STEP/Pathways program. In addition to working toward her B.S. in evolutionary biology, she also helps keep the paleontology division running smoothly. Some of her responsibilities include maintaining collections, preserving archived documents, and hosting visiting researchers.
Dr. Gabriella Rossetto-Harris joined the staff at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in 2024 as the second full time paleontologist. She first was exposed to the field of paleontology as an intern at FLFO in summer of 2014. She completed her undergraduate degree at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO in geology with a minor in anthropology. She earned her MS and PhD specializing in paleobotany from Pennsylvania State University. Gabi was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Field Museum prior to beginning her position at the Monument. In her new role at FLFO, she is committed to continuing emeritus paleontologist Dr. Meyer’s legacy of a strong research and intern program in addition to taking a holistic approach to resource management. She is a research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
