Big Bone Lick

The National Park Service honored Big Bone Lick State Park for its designation as a National Natural Landmark in a ceremony today at the park in Boone County, Kentucky.

The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program began in 1962 to recognize and preserve important natural history sites.  It is the only national program that recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private lands.  Big Bone Lick State Park joins an elite group of only 586 sites across the United States that have received NNL status.

According to the National Park Service: “Big Bone Lick in Boone County, Kentucky is unique for its combination of salt springs and associated Late Pleistocene bone beds.  The site has been referred to as the birthplace of vertebrate paleontology in North America.  The Big Bone fossils played a very important role in the development of scientific thought regarding the idea of extinction and the relationship of geology and paleontology.”

There was a good turnout for the NNL Dedication Ceremony, which was hosted by the Friends of Big Bone, a non-profit organization committed to research and education related to Big Bone Lick.

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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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Here are some original photographs after a massive snowstorm at Big Bone Lick State Park in March 2008.

The park was covered with about a foot of snow, which is a lot for Northern Kentucky.

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