Fossil Parks for Hands-On Digging

U.S. Public Parks Where You Can Collect Fossils Legally

Ice Age Mammoth Remains Unearthed in Southern California
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At the vast majority of fossil-related parks, you can look but never touch. That may be good for the treasures that the parks protect, but it's not the best for getting people involved. Fortunately, most common fossils are not rare, and a scattering of parks allow the public to dig for fossils.

Caesar Creek State Park, Waynesville, OH

The Waynesville area, in the heart of the Cincinnati Arch, yields abundant Ordovician fossils including brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, corals and the occasional trilobite. The US Army Corps of Engineers allows fossil collecting in the Emergency Spillway near the Caesar Creek Dam.

You need a free permit from the visitor center, you may not use any tools, and anything larger than the palm of your hand goes to the Visitor Center's collection. Phone 513-897-1050 for information. 

Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, Morden, Manitoba

You can dig in the great Cretaceous vertebrate faunas of the Western Interior Seaway on private lands in Manitoba about an hour away from Winnipeg.

East Fork State Park, Bethel, OH

The rocks exposed in the emergency spillway of the dam at William H. Harsha Lake are 438 million years old (Ordovician). Fossils are predominantly brachiopods and bryozoans. The US Army Corps of Engineers permits fossil collecting there as long as you use no tools and leave behind any specimen larger than the palm of your hand. 

Fossil Butte National Monument, Kemmerer, WY

Fossil Butte preserves a small portion of the enormous Green River Formation, an ancient freshwater lakebed some 50 million years old (Eocene). On Fridays and Saturdays during summer, visitors can help park scientists dig for fossils on a strictly catch-and-release basis. The program is called "Aquarium in Stone." 

Fossil Park, Sylvania, OH

Soft Middle Devonian shale of the Silica Formation is brought here from the Hanson Aggregate quarries for the public to pick over using only their hands.

Trilobites, horn corals, brachiopods, crinoids, early colonial corals and more are found there. It's a popular school outing, complete with lesson plans and a geologist-authored field guide. There's no charge. The pit is open from late April to early November.

Hueston Woods State Park, College Corner, OH

The Ordovician fossils of this area may be collected at two "fossil collection areas" shown on the park map. Inquire at the Park Office before digging. During summer months, the park naturalist leads to fossil hunts. 

Ladonia Fossil Park, Ladonia, TX

Sediments in the bluffs of the North Sulphur River near Dallas yield all kinds of Cretaceous fossils from mosasaur bones to ammonites, bivalves and shark teeth. The Pleistocene sediments above have mammoth bones and teeth.

This is a rugged, at-your-own-risk kind of place where you need to watch for snakes, slides, feral pigs and sudden floods from controlled water releases. 

Lafarge Fossil Park, Alpena, MI

The Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan, near Thunder Bay in Lake Huron, hosts this site where the great Lafarge Alpena quarry contributes raw Devonian-age limestone for the public to explore. The museum's website has no information on the fossils, but it shows a nice coral specimen. Open from dawn to dusk year-round. 

Mineral Wells Fossil Park, Mineral Wells, TX

A former borrow pit for the city of Mineral Wells now gives visitors a chance to collect fossils from the 300-million-year-old (Pennsylvanian) shale.

Open all day Friday through Monday at no charge, the site yields crinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, corals, trilobites and much more. The Dallas Paleontological Society has a volunteer program for this unusual public resource. 

Oakes Quarry Park, Fairborn, OH

The city of Fairborn, near Dayton, allows fossil collecting in this former limestone quarry; you'll find brachiopods, crinoids, and other Silurian marine fossils.

The site map also points out glacial grooves and a (fossil) coral reef. Check for instructions when you arrive. 

Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center, Blasdell, NY

The Hamburg Natural History Society invites all comers to dig for fossils in this former shale quarry and take them home. The center is open to all for a small fee from mid-April through October on weekends, and every day during the high summer. Other dates can be arranged. The fossils include a wide range of Devonian marine animals.

Poricy Park, Middletown, NJ

Late Cretaceous shallow-marine fossils of the Navesink Formation, including shellfish and shark teeth, can be collected from the streambed of Poricy Brook from April to October. For a small fee, the park will rent you the tools you're permitted to use. 

Trammel Fossil Park, Sharonville, OH

The donation of 10 acres by R. L. Trammel makes it possible for anyone to explore a hillside of undisturbed Ordovician rocks of the Cincinnatian Series in search of brachiopods, bryozoans and more.

Abundant educational signs are there to help you learn what you've got. It's said to have nice views, too. Open every day during daylight hours. 

Wheeler High School Fossil Beds, Fossil, OR

The Oregon Paleo Lands Institute, an educational nonprofit near the John Day fossil beds in north-central Oregon, administers this site. Plant fossils from the 33-million-year-old (Oligocene) Bridge Creek Member of the John Day Formation are abundant.

The fossil beds can be found on the north side of town at the end of Washington Street; you can't miss it. No information on hours; presumably no serious tools are allowed or needed. 

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Alden, Andrew. "Fossil Parks for Hands-On Digging." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/fossil-parks-for-hands-on-digging-1440567. Alden, Andrew. (2023, April 5). Fossil Parks for Hands-On Digging. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/fossil-parks-for-hands-on-digging-1440567 Alden, Andrew. "Fossil Parks for Hands-On Digging." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/fossil-parks-for-hands-on-digging-1440567 (accessed March 29, 2024).