Australia鈥檚 most famous collecting site for fossils, Riversleigh, will
become a national park. After a long-running battle with the area鈥檚 leaseholders,
the Queensland government has decided to take over the 85 000 hectares containing
the fossils.
The fossil fields will be incorporated into nearby Lawn Hill National
Park. This should make field work at the site easier for scientists, who
have been hampered by poor relations between the government and the
leaseholders.
Riversleigh鈥檚 nearly continuous sequence of fossil deposits, dating
back 25 million years, gives a rare opportunity to observe evolutionary
change at a single location.
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