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from the issue of June 12, 2008
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Museum breaks ground on Hubbard Rhino Barn
A June 5 ground breaking at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park near Royal opened construction of a new 17,500-square-foot facility to allow the excavation and protection of many more fossils buried there.
| | RHINO STUDY - Mike Voorhies (right), emeritus professor in geosciences, talks about the Ashfall Fossil Beds with a member of the Hubbard family on June 5. Voorhies discovered the Ashfall site in 1971 while on a walk with his wife, Jane. Photo by Robb Crouch/NU Foundation.
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Plans for the project began in 2007 when the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation of Omaha announced a $1.2 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation for construction of the facility to greatly expand the Rhino Barn.
The new enclosed facility will expand the facility by eight times and will enable paleontologists to discover more fossils while enhancing the experiences for visitors to the park. In recognition of the family's support, the facility will be named the Hubbard Rhino Barn.
Ashfall Park is a joint project of the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It contains skeletons of extinct rhinos, camels and horses lying in the volcanic ash that killed them 12 million years ago. It is a National Natural Landmark as designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
"This magnificent gift will enable our paleontologists to uncover new fossil discoveries and will provide protection so that the fragile exposed area of the fossil bed can be enlarged by careful scientific excavation over the coming decades," said Priscilla Grew, director of the museum. "Visitors and school groups will be able to watch paleontologists at work on the fossils, sharing in the excitement and thrill of their discovery."
The Hubbard Foundation also announced support for a new Discovery Pavilion at the park. This facility will be used to process and research the many smaller fossils found on the site and to collect the fossils found during construction of the Hubbard Rhino Barn. Completion of the Hubbard Rhino Barn is expected in December and a public grand opening will be planned for spring.
To help recognize the fossil discoveries in Nebraska, the U-Haul Co. announced its release of 2,200 new moving vans that feature Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.
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| | | BREAKING GROUND - Members of the Hubbard family and Mike Voorhies (third from left) break ground for the Hubbard Rhino Barn at Ashfall Fossil Beds on June 5.
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In addition to recent gifts, the family's foundation established a paleontology education fund to create classroom kits to teach about the ancient elephants of Nebraska.
For more information, go to http://ashfall.unl.edu or www.museum.unl.edu.
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