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An ancient shark prowls a crinoid reef at Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville.
The 7th Falls Fossil Festival at Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Ind. will be Sept. 22-23, sponsored by the Clarksville Riverfront Foundation. This weekend is full of activities for those curious about the earth.
Highlights include public programs from many renowned amateur and professional geologists. A program schedule is on the Web at www.fallsoftheohio.org.
World-renown crinoid expert Dr. William Ausich will present a keynote lecture on "Crinoid Ecology: Past and Present." Dr. Guillermo Rougier will speak about his experience fossil collecting in the Gobi Desert.
The event will include special hikes around the fossil beds led by roving park interpretive naturalists.
Vendors with fossils, minerals, jewelry and food will have booths at the event. More than 30 tons of rock for fossil collecting (stuff you can keep!) is provided and staffed by Liter's Quarry.
Also this summer, the Falls Interpretive Center is featuring Indiana's Natural Wonders, which highlights the nature photography of DNR photographers Richard Fields and John Maxwell. Photos are on exhibit through Aug. 21.
The Falls' and Clarksville's importance in U.S. history are receiving more and more attention as the 2003 anniversary of Lewis and Clark's voyage of discovery is marked across the nation.
Clarksville has been named a "signature event" site for the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration.
The 13-day commemoration will include a visit by the National Park Service's "Corps of Discovery II" traveling exhibit, public festivals, an extended schedule of educational activities and publications and the unveiling of permanent statues and interpretive signs that will serve as a permanent destination for tourists retracing the steps of Lewis and Clark.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met at the Falls of the Ohio in October 1803, enlisted the first members of the Corps of Discovery and launched the expedition from Clarksville on Oct. 26, 1803.
More information: Falls of the Ohio State Park, 201 W. Riverside Dr., Clarksville, Ind., telephone 812-280-9970, or P.O. Box 1327, Jeffersonville IN 47131-1327
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Brown County (left) and a marsh marigold (right), as seen by DNR photographers on display at the Falls Interpretive Center.
