It was a good summer for the public fossil digs sponsored by the North Dakota Geological Survey.
"It was a rather wet summer this year," said North Dakota Geological Survey paleontology program manager Clint Boyd. "We had a few more rain day cancellations than we would like in a typical year. But other wise, it was a good and productive summer."
Boyd said approximately 230 individuals were on the digs this summer. He said they started at a site south of Medora, then moved to a site south of Bismarck. The last stop: The Pembina Gorge.
"There, we worked on rocks from the age of the dinosaurs, but from the seaway at that time," Boyd said. "We were looking at fish and turtles, and the big sea reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, and things like that."
Boyd said the plan for next year includes dinosaur sites and the Gorge.
"We've got some other activities that we have to schedule into June next year," Boyd said. "So we're still deciding what we're going to do — go back to our Medora dig site, or move it to a different time in the summer."
Boyd said the feedback from this year's digs has been very positive.
"We're very happy people enjoy it, because we love having people out with us," Boyd said.
