Photo by Nancy Royden. Ruth Tovar, Katelyn Tovar, 5, Alyssa Tovar, 7, all of Laurel, check out artifacts following the dedication ceremony at the dinosaur park.

Published on: Wednesday, November 04, 2009

By Nancy Royden

Dinosaurs no longer roam the earth, but today they are celebrated and studied through a new park in Laurel.

On Monday, Oct. 26, fans of bones, nature, history and other artifacts dedicated the park. People of all ages met to see artifacts and hear about how the park was established.

Local paleontologists Peter Kranz and Butch Norden of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources attended the  ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Photo by Nancy Royden. Paleontologist Peter Kranz offers remarks during the Oct. 26 dedication of the Dinosaur Park on the 13200 block of Mid Atlantic Avenue in Laurel. The interpretive portion of the park is open from dusk to dawn, 7 days a week. A paleontologist is on duty on the first and third Saturdays monthly from 12 to 4 p.m.

Artifacts were also displayed inside the park in the 13200 block of Mid Atlantic Avenue.

“It will become a place to come and learn,” Kranz said. “They (children) really can help us find the dinos.”

The park is located at the end of street where businesses are already located. Kranz and others, such as Michael Styer are excited the park is now open. Styer brought many artifacts, including dinosaur teeth, to the dedication for display.

Made up of 41 acres, the park was conceived after Dallas-based developer Jackson-Shaw Company and Potomac Capital Investments Corp. dedicated land to The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Jackson-Shaw Company also has offices in Lanham and Jacksonville, Fla.

Designed by Jackson-Shaw Company, the park boasts fossils of a wide variety of dinosaurs and flowering plants. The artifacts are from the Cretaceous Period, 144 to 65 million years ago. During the dedication, several plants similar to the ones that would have been growing during the ages of the dinosaur were displayed, according to M-NCPPC.

Dinosaur Park has been the site of numerous fossil finds and represents million of years of Prince George’s County history when dinosaurs roamed the earth to the early iron industry of Maryland, from the 1650s to the 1920s.

Others who spoke during the dedication were: Sarah Cavitt, commissioner of the Prince George’s County Planning Board; Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson; Thomas Dernoga, vice chairman of the Prince George’s County Council, District 1; and Tom Aylward, vice president of Jackson-Shaw Company.

Not every state in the country has a designated dinosaur of its own, but in 1998, the Astrodon johnstoni received the title. According to the state’s Web site, the Astrodon lived in Maryland during the Early Cretaceous period, from 95 to 130 million years ago.

Astrodon means “star tooth” and originates from fossils found in 1858 by Philip Tyson, then the state’s agricultural chemist. Weighing up to 20 tons, Astrodons had small heads, long necks and long tails. The adults could be 50 to 60 feet long and more than 30 feet tall. They probably ate conifers, ferns and other plants.

“His discovery of two teeth in the Arundel clay near Muirkirk, in Prince George’s County, was one of the earliest dinosaur finds in the country and the first in Maryland. Tyson gave the teeth to a local doctor and dentist, Christopher Johnston, who sliced a tooth into cross sections, discovering a star pattern,” according to the state’s Web site.

Dave Bohaska, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., said some people do paleontology work for pay and others are volunteers. However, all of them contribute to help others learn more about the area’s history.

“We rely a lot on everyday amateurs,” he said.

Although an amateur paleontologist, Styer has amassed knowledge regarding fossils, rocks and other natural things. He brought many of his fossils and artifacts to the dedication so others could see and learn from them.

Many people came up to him at the event with rocks and other substances to ask whether or not they picked up a dinosaur bone, fossil or just clay.

Kranz advocates The Dinosaur Fund, a not-for-profit organization to help raise money for dinosaur research in the National Capital Region. He is getting the word out through the Web site, www.dinosaurfund.org.

He organizes family dinosaur camps, and they are for individuals and families of all ages, but an adult must accompany children.

Kranz encourages people to get out and discover evidence of glaciers, volcanoes and earthquakes in the area. He told the audience at the dedication that some of the items found on the parkland are expected to become part of exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution.

“This is a great start,” he said during his remarks.

In the future, public programs and tours will be offered at the dinosaur park.