Dinosaur renaissance: A new look at old creatures in Utah

From The Salt Lake Tribune, Lifestyle: Dinosaur renaissance: A new look at old creatures in Utah

For creatures that wandered through Utah millions of years ago, dinosaurs certainly are making news these days.

Whether paleontologists are announcing the discovery of a new species, or working a dig in places such as Hanksville, Moab, Emery County or the Uinta Basin, or buildings and exhibits are either being rebuilt or constructed from scratch, dinosaurs are enjoying a renaissance in Utah.

The state already featured what is billed as the world’s largest display of mounted dinosaurs at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point, the world’s best collection of dinosaur tracks at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm and the densest concentration of Jurassic-aged dinosaurs ever found at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Emery County.

In all, there are 13 facilities that display dinosaur fossils, bones or recreations, and there are many sites on public lands where paleontologists are opening new digs and species are being discovered.

"Utah is so famous for our landscape and our snow, but we are also really famous for our dinosaurs," said Tim Lee, a designer for the new Natural History Museum of Utah. "As a state, our educational institutions are starting to realize that. People outside of Utah are interested in that. We have an amazing geologic record of time. These dinosaurs once populated our state."

New and restored facilities that are already complete or coming on line in the near future will allow dinosaur enthusiasts to gain even more knowledge about these ancient reptiles.

At Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, the famous Quarry Wall filled with about 1,500 exposed dinosaur bones representing 400 creatures reopened last week for the first time since 2006. The building protecting one of the world’s most famous dinosaur sites has been restored and improved with better access and interpretive exhibits.

The Natural History Museum of Utah will be opening its new $100 million state-of-the-art facility on Salt Lake City’s east bench on Nov. 18. It will include a "Past Worlds Zone" to display some of its famous dinosaur collection.

With a $1.5 million loan from the Uintah County Special Service Impact District, ground will soon be broken on a new laboratory and repository for eastern Utah dinosaur bones as part of the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park facility in Vernal. The facility could be ready for use as soon as next spring.

The Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum — formerly the CEU Museum — in Price is reworking its main dinosaur exhibit and its famous Utahraptor to reflect new trends and discoveries in the field of paleontology.

"Anything new in the world of dinosaurs can cause a buzz," said Christine Trease, director of public relations for the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum.

In Utah, that buzz is almost a roar right now.

The excitement started with the reopening of the Quarry Exhibit Hall and new visitor center at Dinosaur National Monument last week. The quarry wall allows visitors to see the dinosaur bones uncovered but still embedded in the rock in which they were found. The quarry has produced fossils from all four major late-Jurassic dinosaur groups: plant-eating sauropods, stegasaurs, ornithopods and flesh-eating theropods.

Veteran monument paleontologist Dan Chure, who first came here in 1979, called the wall "a library of dinosaur bones. Coming here is a pilgrimage for many schools. ... This is the heart and soul of Dinosaur."

In nearby Vernal, Steve Sroka, manager of the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park, said the new laboratory and repository planned to be a part of that facility will consist of 12,000 square feet of space and have a viewing area where the public can watch paleontologists prepare fossils and exhibits. Many of the fossils are found in the area.

Then there is the new Natural History Museum of Utah, one of the most expensive facilities of its kind to open in the state. Its dinosaur exhibit will include a 30-foot-long "trophy wall" featuring about 15 ceratopsans — horned dinosaurs — many of which were discovered in Utah.