Fossil sites in Nevada

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nye County preserves a Late Triassic mass-mortality bone bed of Shonisaurus popularis, an ichthyosaur reaching roughly 15 metres in length. The bones are protected in-situ under a covered fossil shelter, and guided ranger tours (typically Memorial Day through Labor Day) walk visitors through the bonebed and the adjacent ghost town of Berlin. Collecting is prohibited; the site is a viewing destination, but the scale and preservation of the specimens is unmatched in the western US.

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, about a 20-minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip, preserves Pleistocene megafauna (Columbian mammoth, American lion, dire wolf, camelops, ground sloth) within an active urban-edge desert landscape. The monument is free to enter but undeveloped — there are no visitor facilities yet, and a sturdy car plus water are required. Collecting is strictly prohibited under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act; the site is best treated as a self-guided walk.

Fee-based fossil collecting in Nevada is possible at a handful of Cambrian and Ordovician outcrops in the Eureka and Pioche districts, but these require local guides and BLM casual-use rules. Most visiting collectors stick to Berlin and Tule Springs as the easiest first stops.