Big Bone Lick

Travel back 450 million years with the park naturalist staff for an exciting day of fossil hunting at Big Bone Lick State Park on Saturday, May 2.  Help find, photograph, clean and catalogue the various Ordovician fossils found on the park.  Any extraordinary fossils that are found will be put on display in the nature and history center.

The Ordovician is a geologic period, the second of six periods in the Paleozoic era, and covers the time between 488-443 million years ago.  It follows the Cambrian period and precedes the Silurian period.  The Ordovician, named after the Welsh tribe of the Ordovices, was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879.

Metazoan invertebrates dominated Ordovician life.  Marine life increased four-fold during this period.  Corals collected to build reefs.  Green algae — from which plants probably evolved — became common.  The first terrestrial plants resembling liverworts appeared.  The first jawed fish appeared late in the Ordovician.  A mass marine life extinction occurred during the late Ordovician and claimed some 60% of genera, thereby creating niches for benthic (bottom-dwelling) and planktonic (floating, swimming) organisms.

Here are some original photos of the flood at Big Bone Lick State Park on May 8, 2002.  Before they replaced the main bridge in the park that spanned Big Bone Creek, whenever it rained heavily, the creek would overflow, debris would collect under the bridge, and eventually the whole lower area of the park would flood.

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Here are a couple photos after a storm blew through Big Bone Lick State Park in July 2001. 

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There will be a National Natural Landmark (NNL) dedication ceremony at Big Bone State Park on Friday, May 1 at 11:00 am at the front shelter house.  Friends of Big Bone, a non-profit organization committed to research and education related to Big Bone Lick, will host the ceremony that will include speakers and refreshments.  Two persons from the National Park Service will join the ceremony.

The 3rd grade class at New Haven Elementary School in Union have been closely involved with this project since last September.  They even raised money toward their own lunch and to help pay for the big NNL plaque.

From the National Park Service:  "The National Natural Landmarks Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of our country’s natural history.  It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership.  National Natural Landmarks are designated by the Secretary of the Interior, with the owner’s concurrence.  To date, fewer than 600 sites have been designated.  The National Park Service administers the NNL Program, and if requested, assists NNL owners and managers with the conservation of these important sites."

The U.S. National Park Service recognized Big Bone Lick State Park as a National Natural Landmark in February.

Todd Young is the naturalist at Big Bone Lick State Park in Boone County, Kentucky.

A naturalist is a person who studies natural history: animals and plants and how they evolve.  Note that this job is not to be confused with a naturist, which is someone who enjoys life “clothing optional.”

Todd graduated from Northern Kentucky University with degrees in both Anthropology and Philosophy.  He started at Big Bone Lick in the spring of 2002 as a seasonal naturalist and recreation specialist.  In November 2006, Todd became the full-time naturalist for the park.

Todd and the naturalist staff at Big Bone Lick State Park offer high quality educational and community outreach programs that are tailored specifically to each individual group.  If you are lucky to run into Todd while visiting the park, you’ll find him to be very approachable, knowledgeable, and an all-around nice guy.

You can phone Todd at 859-384-3522 or send email to todd.young@ky.gov

The naturalist staff at Big Bone Lick State Park takes great pride in offering high quality educational and community outreach programs that are tailored specifically to each individual group.

The staff developed brand new educational programs in 2009 that are ideal for school groups, scout troops, or other civic organizations.

For example, in the “Lick the Wild: Survival Skills Weekend,” you join the park naturalist for a full weekend of pre-historic-based survival training at Big Bone Lick State Park.  Taught from a “no modern tools” perspective, these classes are designed to teach you how to cope with various difficulties in survival situations.

For more information and a listing of programs available, please call (859-384-3522) or email the park naturalist Todd Young.

Big Bone Lick is one of the most famous paleontological sites in North America.  Vast numbers of bones were collected throughout the mid 1700’s and transported to museums throughout the world.

In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Captain William Clark to excavate bones from Big Bone Lick for scientific study.  This made Big Bone Lick the first official paleontological collecting site in North America.  Collected bones made their way to museums throughout the world and into Jefferson’s Monticello home in Virginia, where the bones can still be viewed today.  The discovery of "elephant" bones at Big Bone Lick was one of the reasons that Thomas Jefferson sent explorers westward to Kentucky and beyond in hopes of discovering new species.

Because the bones from Big Bone Lick were different than bones of modern elephants, Benjamin Franklin and other scientists began to question the changes that must have occurred in the Earth’s past to render these animals extinct.  Eventually they learned these big bones belonged to mammoths and mastodons, two types of extinct elephants.

Read more at Kentucky Geological Survey