Paleontology Consulting That Meets Your Deadlines

At Paleowest, client satisfaction is our top priority. We seek to act as your trusted advisors, where your goals are our goals. We are highly responsive and use all of our resources to give you innovative approaches that keep projects on-track and on budget.

Our team is top-notch. We are regulatory experts and technical experts in vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology, micropaleontology, paleobotany, and paleoethnobotany. We respond quickly and efficiently to clients needs in any geographic location. We hold active permits to conduct work on state and federal lands whenever permits are required.

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  Construction Monitoring

  When it comes time for construction, we work closely with our clients, contractors, and regulators to ensure your project remains in compliance with all mitigation measures, permit requirements, and conditions of approval. Before construction begins, we help clients assess their obligations, and prepare plans and approaches to address them in ways that minimize the potential for delay and maximize efficiency. We have tens of thousands of hours of experience working alongside heavy equipment and construction personnel and we routinely prepare pre-construction Worker Environmental Awareness Program (WEAP) training and have trained thousands of workers. Our all-digital data collection tools, expert in-field fossil identification and significance determination, and rapid-response practices ensure that if paleontological materials are encountered, delays are minimized or eliminated altogether. To top it off, our safety record is impeccable.

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  Impact Assessments In Support Of NEPA, CEQA, Or Other Legal Requirements

  Our paleontologists are industry experts in requirements of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Paleontological Resources Protection Act (PRPA), California Environmental Policy Act (CEQA), and various other laws and regulations governing paleontological resources. PaleoWest works closely and regularly with agencies such as Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), California Energy Commission (CEC), and many others. PaleoWest abides by the requirements detailed in the PRPA and strictly adheres to the guidelines outlined in BLM Handbook H-8270-1 and Instructional Memorandum No. 2009-011.

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  Mitigation Plans

  We routinely prepare Paleontological Monitoring and Mitigation Plans (PRMMP) for construction projects in support of power plants, solar and wind energy developments, oil and gas infrastructure, mining activities, transportation, and land development projects. Importantly, we take time to critically analyze mitigation requirements for each project, and then customize plans to meet, but not exceed, the requirements. We apply our regulatory expertise to ensure that our clients projects remain in compliance, and also stay on schedule.

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  Fossil Salvage And Recovery

  Our team is well-versed in fossil collection and fossil salvage. PaleoWest’s paleontologists are industry experts in dinosaur paleontology, vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology, and paleobotany, with skills in surface collection of small fossils and jacketing and removing large fossils such as partial skeletons. This work is done efficiently to accommodate construction schedules and to reduce any burden on clients.

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  Museum Record And Literature Searches

  Our reputable paleontologists have not only garnered excellent working relationships with major museum repositories—including the Tate Geological Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the Museum of the Rockies—but our staff have worked at many of these institutions themselves. These excellent working relationships benefit our clients in a number of ways. Additionally, PaleoWest’s paleontologists are constantly innovating, keeping PaleoWest current with scientific methods and publications.

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  GIS Mapping Of Paleontological Sensitive Areas

  PaleoWest uses in-house GIS experts to support all of our work. We incorporate BLM’s Potential Fossil Yield Classification system and geologic maps to provide rapid and high-quality map sets of project areas. This allows us to provide our clients with an accurate assessment of the sensitivity levels and data collection requirements for any given project and facilitates the production of impact evaluations, field work, and technical reports, saving time and money for our clients.

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  Geological And Paleontological Field Surveys And Assessments

  PaleoWest’s skilled paleontologists routinely perform field surveys to identify and document fossils and we often provide services to recover fossils where they may be adversely impacted. Our objectives are always to provide options to minimize impacts whenever possible and provide cost and time-saving alternatives to clients.

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  Geological Map Reviews

  Our paleontologists expertly read and interpret geologic maps in order to focus analysis on only those geologic units that may contain sensitive resources. With our help, clients get the most streamlined paleontological assessments, whether field surveys or construction monitoring. This saves time and money.

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  Fossil Pre-curation

  We routinely conduct laboratory preparation, fossil identification, and museum pre-curation to satisfy both federal and state requirements and individual museum stipulations. PaleoWest holds a variety of curation agreements with museums in all geographic areas that we service, providing efficient fossil curation practices. PaleoWest’s secure laboratory facilities furnish space and equipment for matrix washing, microfossil picking, fossil specimen preparation and identification, and repair as well as temporary secure housing of paleontological collections before permanent curation at a designated repository.