Hill City museum uses Fossil Day for announcement

Black Hills Institute of Geological Research (BHI) is once again treating guests to the museum with free entry on National Fossil Day, Wednesday, Oct. 11.

The museum will host a series of special presentations from world renown guest speakers.  In addition BHI president Peter Larson  will make an announcement about the future of the museum.

The announcement is “not only going to be good for us,” says BHI paleontologist Alex Ruger, “but for the Hill City community. HiIl City is already on the map as a tourist destination in the Black Hills but this is going to make us a destination for scientists, fossil lovers, people who like dinosaurs, anybody with an interest in nature and science is going to want to come here to Hill City.”

The National Fossil Day talks at BHI range in subjects including reptiles, geology of the Black Hills, the end of the age of dinosaurs as well as the future of small museums. 

Speakers include experts from BHI, Florida Atlantic University, Brown University and the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences. All the talks will be livestreamed on the BHI  Youtube channel, @BlackHillsInstitute. 

The museum will also feature experts on hand all day to identify fossils and minerals. This is the second year the museum has participated in National Fossil Day.

“It’s just a day to learn about the Earth’s history, learn about fossil heritage and where fossils come from,” Ruger said.

Ruger says fossils touch on all sorts of sciences from astronomy to anatomy.

BHI has an important collection of fossils, meteorites and animal bones built over a 50-year time span.

“We’re always very excited to share this, especially with our local Black Hills area community. We really want to give the locals an opportunity to learn more about what there is in the fossil world,” Ruger said.

BHI frequently hosts tour groups, tourists and locals throughout the year. “The Amazing Rush” season seven visited the museum Sept. 28 with participants playing a geologic time challenge. BHI staff placed different beasts in a bag and asked Amazing Rush participants to place the beasts on a geological time scale rug from youngest to oldest.

Contestants had twi minutes to place the 26 critters correctly. Some time periods had more than one animal while others had none.

Tyson Steiger, executive director of the Amazing Rush, said a stop at BHI is always top notch.

“You can’t come to the Black Hills and not take in our prehistoric history. It’s  very much a staple of who we are in this location in the nation. To embrace that side of our story needs to be told. And BHI tells it greatly,” he said.

Rich Rydell, a season  seven contestant from California, was one of six players who stopped at BHI as part of the Visit Rapid City program. “Amazing Rush” is modeled after the television show “The Amazing Race.”

“This is very impressive,” said Rydell of BHI. “This is amazing. I knew a lot of fossils are found  in South Dakota, so I knew about that but I didn’t realize you had this museum here, which is very impressive.”

The special announcement from Larson takes place at 5 p.m. with a mixer/social to follow.

For more information about BHI’s National Fossil Day program call (605) 574-4289, email BHI at tours@bhigr.com, or follow them on Instagram @every

thingprehistoricbhigr.