The Utah Friends of Paleontology offers a certification program for volunteers which prepares them to work with professional paleontologists and to teach others in the community about the field.

Objectives are to have each participant:

• Develop a general knowledge of the history, laws, ethics, and values of paleontology.
• Understand general geological principles and be able to recognize the formations and matrixes in which fossils are formed.
• Achieve a basic ability to recognize and classify plant and animal fossils.
• Be able to record paleontological site data on official forms.
• Be able to assist a professional in a paleontological laboratory.
• Be able to assist a professional in a paleontological excavation.
• Be able to teach or interpret paleontology in an elementary way to general audiences such as school children.
• Understand paleontological activities in the context of scholarly research.

Additional information about the volunteer certification program and other activities of the Utah Friends of Paleontology may be obtained from the State Paleontologist, Utah Geological Survey, P.O. Box 146100, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6100. Phone: (801) 537-3311, email: marthahayden@utah.gov.