The Southwest Chapter was established by Andrew Milner in Cedar City on November 17, 1999, and the first speaker was Jim Kirkland, the State Paleontologist of Utah with the Utah Geological Survey.

In February 2000, Dr. Sheldon Johnson, while leveling a hill on his private farmland in St. George, overturned many large blocks of Moenave Formation rock which contained abundant fossilized dinosaur tracks of exceptional quality. Dr. Johnson was committed to preserving these tracks and the State of Utah Geological Survey and the city of St. George became involved in the preservation effort.

In October 2001, Andrew Milner was hired by the city of St. George to direct the recovery and preservation efforts at the dinosaur track site, now the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. Several of the Chapter’s members have been involved in the discovery and preservation efforts of the fossils or as docents at the Dinosaur Discovery Site since the tracks were discovered in 2000.