The last of the new Visitor Center exhibits at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument have been installed. They include a diagram of a stratigraphic column showing the different types of rocks in the park, touchable samples of rock and fossil wood, and an changing board showcasing currently research at the park and partnership projects like the conservation of the Sexi Petrified Forest in Peru.

These exhibits greatly enhance the park’s ability to educate visitors, and display some of the park’s most spectacular fossil specimens along with hands-on activities for kids. The free Junior Ranger Program is a great complement to the new exhibits.

-Melissa Barton

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Spalding also organized the Monument’s first Junior Ranger Day on July 21, 2007. Young visitors learned about fire safety, fossils, and wildlife with activities such as making plaster casts of animal tracks and splitting shale to find fossils.

“The new Junior Ranger book has more activities and reaches a wider audience,” Wolin says. “The activities are engaging, educational, and fun.”

The Friends and the Junior Ranger Ambassador Grant paid for the printing of the new activity book, which was published in December. Kids and parents love the new program:

I wanted to send a thank you to all of the staff and the ranger who assisted our family on Saturday this past week. Traveling to NPS sites is a hobby and something we have done for some years now. You have an excellent site. But you have excellent people which just adds to the site.

My daughter loves the Junior Ranger Programs and as I shared that day, yours is the best I have seen out of the dozens we have done. The staff who assisted her just continue to build that passion for history and nature and I cannot thank you enough for this.

That was one of the best mornings we have spent and I thank you for the experience. I hope you will send this to your district supervisor because our next generations are being educated by some great people…you. As both a parent and a citizen, I can not stress enough how impressed I was with your work.

Greg Block

The Junior Ranger Program is always available during the park’s visitation hours. For more information, call 719-748-3253 or ask at the front desk in the Visitor Center when you visit. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., 7 days a week, except Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

-Melissa Barton

Photo Credits: Friends Vice President and park volunteer Sally Maertens helps young visitors make casts of tracks (NPS Photo), Ranger Jeff Wolin and Junior Rangers take the Junior Ranger Pledge (NPS Photo)

In honor of National Park Week (April 22-29) and the first National Junior Ranger Day (April 27), Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument announced that its Junior Ranger Program will now be free. This decision has been made possible with assistance from the Friends and the Rocky Mountain Nature Association.

The park’s Junior Ranger Program consists of a book of activities to complete, after which the participant can choose either a Junior Ranger badge or a patch showing a paper wasp, possibly the park’s most iconic fossil.

Since the park is installing new exhibits, the Junior Ranger booklet will need to be updated. Last summer’s Teacher-Ranger-Teacher, Greg Spalding, has been hired to revise and coordinate the Junior Ranger Program this summer.

A park ranger of tomorrow

While many young visitors to parks participate in Junior Ranger Programs, few are as enthusiastic as Chandler Johnson of Rome, Georgia. After participating in her first Junior Ranger program at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, she has gone on to complete over 100 Junior Ranger Programs.

Johnson wears a vest covered with Junior Ranger badges and patches when she visits national parks. She hopes one day to complete every offered Junior Ranger Program. Johnson enjoys hiking and viewing wayside exhibits, and believes it is important to respect our national parks.

“I believe the country should know that national parks, historic sites, and recreational areas are all very cool places that our nation has made for us,” she says. “Go visit some of the national parks and learn something new!”

-Melissa Barton

“A park ranger of tomorrow” is based on an article by Norton Canfield, Park Guide at Harry S. Truman National Historic Site.
Photo Credit: Larry Villalva, Superintendent at Harry S. Truman National Historic Site.