Natural Landmark Designation Celebrated

On Friday, May 1st, several dozen people gathered to celebrate the designation of Big Bone Lick as a National Natural Landmark.  Designated as an NNL by Secretary Kempthorne in January of this year, Big Bone Lick is significant for its combination of salt springs and associated late Pleistocene bone beds.

Located within Big Bone Lick State Park, 25 miles southwest of Cincinnati in northern Kentucky, the site has been referred to as the birthplace of vertebrate paleontology in North America.  The Big Bone fossils played an important role in the development of scientific thought regarding the idea of extinction and the relationship of geology and paleontology.

The dedication ceremony, hosted by the Friends of Big Bone Lick, was attended by various community members, Kentucky Parks and Recreation staff members, commissioners, park staff, the NNL program manager and IMR regional NNL coordinator, NNL evaluation report authors, those individuals integral in getting the park established in 1955 and students from a local elementary school. 

A third grade class from New Haven Elementary has made Big Bone Lick part of a year-long project.  It started last fall as part of a persuasive writing project, with the submission of letters of support for the site’s designation during the 60-day public comment period. The students have since met with one of the NNL evaluation report authors to learn more about the park resources, raised money to help get the NNL bronze plaque mounted, donated a tree to be planted at the park, attended the dedication ceremony as honored guests, and plan to return to the park to help plant the tree.

Big Bone Lick was one of four sites designated as an NNL this year and only one of six to be designated in the past 20 years.  There are now 586 NNLs nationwide, all of which collectively represent the biological and geological story of America.  Landmark designation recognizes the significance of resources at these sites and creates a partnership between landowners and the National Park Service such that the NPS can be an advocate for conservation of the significant NNL resources.  More information on the NNL program can be found at http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/.