Madison Bryce 1

Dinosaur National Park Dinosaur National Park is a desert located within both Colorado and Utah. With its amazing wall full of the coolest fossils and it’s breathtaking views, Dinosaur is sure to have you amazed. Love hiking or nature? Try Dinosaurs hikes through the desert or nature trails through the woods and mountains. Overall Dinosaur is a great place to see some amazing stuff! 2

What year did your park become a official National Park and why? 3 Dinosaur National Monument protects a large deposit of bone remains of the so called “terrible lizards” that lived millions of years ago. Today many ideas about how Dinosaurs are changing and the fossils at Dinosaur National Monument continue to help us learn more about these amazing animals. President Woodrow Wilson heard about the great quarry that Earl Douglass had started and proclaimed the site as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915.

How was your national park formed (from an earth scientist perspective)? First a river collected and buried thousands of bones. More layers of mud and sand covered the bones and hardened them into rock. Strong currents bent and tilted the rock layers. Erosion wore away many layers and exposed a few bones. Earl Douglass saw them and dug into the rock to find more. The Quarry now protects the bones still in the rock. 4 The processes of how dinosaur was formed.

What types of rocks can be found inside your park? The two main rocks you would find in Dinosaur National park is the quarry sandstone and sedimentary rock. Fossils of main dinosaurs have also been found. A wall in the Quarry visitor center displays 1500 fossils. These rocks are also found in the mountains and canyons. 5

What special landforms or features are inside your park? What special landforms or features are inside your park? There is the wall in an exhibit hall protecting and displaying 1500 fossils including those from many different dinosaurs like Achelousaurus (shown below). There are many hiking trails including Cold Desert Trail, Plug Hat Trail, Ruple Point Trail, and Harpers Corner Trail, but don’t forget your water, Dinosaur is a desert! 6

How is the land inside your park currently changing? The visitor center (Quarry) was built in 1957 on unstable soil and the building has had structural problems for many years. The detailed inspection identified some unknown conditions that have serious health hazards. Because of those concerns park management made the difficult decision that the building would close. 7

What environmental issues are affecting your park? The environmental issues Dinosaur is facing is invasive species. Tamarisk has taken over river banks along the Green and Yampa Rivers. They crowded out native plants like willow and cottonwood trees. This also effects the animals that depend on these plants. Dinosaur scientists use several methods to reduce Tamarisk in the monument. They hand remove the plant or they use a insect that eats the seed. like wasps or lady bugs. 8

How is technology used to help preserve and maintain your park? To help maintain there insects eating the in invasive species they use technology. They map out the Tamarisk using GPS devices and then put the data on a computer to make GIS maps. This allows them to monitor their success. This is just one way they use technology to tackle environmental issues. Tamarisk 9

Topographic Map 10

Resorces m m ional_Monument ional_Monument A park ranger also gave additional help and facts on my project. 11

Works Cited "Dinosaur National Monument Homepage." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 25 May "Dinosaur National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 27 May Hoesch, William A., and Steven A. Austin*. "Dinosaur National Monument: Jurassic Park Or Jurassic Jumble?" The Institute for Creation Research. Web. 27 May