WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | EcoTrack11: Visit to park yields fossils -- and history lesson
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By Tara Hastings - bio | email
Posted by Nick Dutton - email
SYLVANIA, OH (WTOL) - Learn more about our environment and take home a piece of history at a unique park right in Northwest Ohio. Fossil Park, part of the Olander Park System, is located at 5705 Centennial Road in Sylvania.
"These fossils are from the Devonian Era 375 million years ago... at that time Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and New York were covered with a shallow sea," says Olander Park System's Melanie Coulter.
Thousands of years later sediment fell into the ocean and fossilized sea creatures. Diggers can find brachiopods a type of shellfish, coral and many other fossils.
Piles of shale are brought over from the quarry. Just look around to find find a fossil of your own.
"You can basically pick up a rock and one in three times...there will be some sort of fossil in it," says Coulter.
Teachers with the Black Swamp Educators Program are sifting through the rock. Kindergarten teacher Kay Nickelsen is bringing back fossils for her classroom.
"Kindergartners are like sponges. You can get all that information into them, so the more you can tell and show them, the more they have to remember..." says Nickelsen.
Fossil Park is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and admission is free. Don't bring any tools, just be prepared to get a little dirty. And take home whatever fossils you can carry -- and a history lesson about our environment.
Hours of operation are Saturdays 10a - 6p and Sundays 11a - 6p. There is not an admission fee.
[Click here to visit their website.]
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