State Museum’s latest exhibit 50 million years in the making

The mammoths aren't the only attraction at Morrill Hall.

The remains of a plesiosaur from Nebraska's ancient ocean, a tapir and a giant tortoise are on display after being discovered during road construction.

The University of Nebraska State Museum and the Nebraska Department of Roads are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their partnership in the Highway Paleontology Program.

The program allows paleontologists from the museum to salvage fossil remains uncovered by highway construction projects.

To mark the anniversary, a special exhibit called "Highway Paleontology: Life in the Past Lane" opened Wednesday at the museum at Morrill Hall. The exhibit will be on display until Sept. 30, 2011.

More than 200,000 specimens have been recovered from highway projects since the Highway Paleontology Program's inception. These specimens include a number of significant finds and new discoveries.

"Probably the most significant site was Gering," said Shane Tucker, a highway salvage paleontologist for the museum.

He said paleontologists collected more than 1,000 bones near Gering, Neb., including those of a hippo-like animal called an anthracothere and a slingshot horned deer— the only one that has been found in Nebraska.

Mary Jo Oie, communication director for the Nebraska Department of Roads, called the partnership a "team effort" involving NDOR, the museum and contractors.

Oie said the Department of Roads notifies the University of Nebraska State Museum about upcoming projects and informs the museum who the contractor will be so paleontologists can communicate with them. If fossils are uncovered during construction, the contractors shift their operations to another section of the project while paleontologists excavate the area.

This way, Oie said, paleontologists can salvage fossils without causing delays for the contractors.

Tucker said that after construction, paleontologists may return to areas where fossils were uncovered and do further excavation nearby, often with the help of equipment provided by the department.

Tucker said the program's success comes from cooperation between contractors and the Department of Roads.

"The Department of Roads is a good steward of our land," Oie said. "We have to follow environmental criteria and regulations, so we're always cognizant of taking care of the land. It stands to reason that we'd take good care of what's inside the land as well."

Tucker recommended that students visit the new exhibit at Morrill Hall and learn about the Highway Paleontology Program and Nebraska's ancient history.

"We're preserving fossils that otherwise would be destroyed. Instead, they will be here forever for future paleontologists from the United States and around the world to study," he said. "And they're preserved for the citizens of Nebraska."

The Highway Paleontology Program was established on Oct. 1, 1960, to preserve fossils threatened by highway construction. It was backed by state legislation in 1959 that allowed the Nebraska Department of Roads to enter into agreements with state agencies to preserve the archeological and paleontological record.

Tucker said Nebraska was the first state to create this kind of agreement. Nebraska is still one of the few states with a full-time highway paleontology program.

kaitlinek@dailynebraskan.com