Dinosaur Park

Dinosaur Park News Roundup

0 Digs

We’ve had a busy month at Dinosaur Park. Here’s what has been going on:

Excavating a Dinosaur Bone

On October 5th, National Museum of Natural History fossil preparators Michelle Pinsdorf and Pete Kroehler came to Dinosaur Park to help us excavate a dinosaur bone that was eroding out of the hillside. The roughly two foot-long bone was far too delicate to lift out of the ground, so the NMNH team constructed a plaster jacket to safely remove it from the ground. At the museum, the jacketed bone will be carefully cleaned, stabilized, and eventually identified.

National Fossil Day

October 12th was the sixth annual National Fossil Day. Organized by the National Park Service, National Fossil Day promotes public awareness of the fossil record and deep time, while encouraging stewardship of our nation’s fossil resources. On Saturday, October 15th, Dinosaur Park staff took part in the Discover Fossils family event at the National Museum of Natural History. At our table, visitors could see and touch petrified wood and other local fossils. We also showed off a number of freshly-prepared discoveries from this past summer.

Renovation Update

The ongoing renovation project at Dinosaur Park is nearing completion. Recent visitors will have noticed that the paved parking area and walkway, the seating area, and a variety of “living fossil” trees are all in place. We expect to install our climbable dinosaur skeleton and the first round of new interpretive signs within the next few weeks.