This image is the cover for the book Petrified Forest National Park, Images of America

Petrified Forest National Park, Images of America

Petrified Forest National Park in Northeast Arizona was set aside in 1906 by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to protect the scientifically important Mesozoic forests. With a boundary encompassing 225,000 acres, the park protects not only the largest and most colorful deposits of petrified wood in the world but also significant archeological and ecological resources and other important fossils, like the oldest dinosaurs in North America. The park has been a crossroads for travelers and a destination for scientists, including Albert Einstein and John Muir. As a work site of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the only national park crossed by the famous Route 66, and a centerpiece of the National Park Service's Mission 66 initiative, Petrified Forest National Park has a history that rivals that of more familiar national parks.

William Gibson Parker

William Gibson Parker is a geologist, vertebrate paleontologist, and historian who has worked at the park since 2001. With degrees in geology from Northern Arizona University and the University of Texas at Austin, he has published more than 60 papers on the park geology and paleontology. He also studies the park's history, in particular how infrastructure has changed through time and affected the park visitors. Almost all of the photographs in this book come from the park's extensive archive as well as the author's personal collection.

Arcadia Publishing