Principal David Leslie was invited recently to speak about Connecticut's First Peoples and the Pleistocene at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of Connecticut State Parks. The Friends are a volunteer organization that provides much needed support to the state parks system here in Connecticut. The meeting, which was held at Dinosaur State Park, provided an important venue for members of this organization to have direct access to leaders within the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, who manage the state parks.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for members to socialize and discuss important issues facing our state park system. Members were also treated to a special tour (socks only, no shoes!) of the dinosaur trackways that are preserved at the park by Park Supervisor Michael Ross. These fossils (Euobrontes) are remnants of large (18 - 20 ft) tall Theropod dinosaurs that probably resembled Dilophosaurus, and were created at some point towards the beginning of the Jurassic period. While we were touring the exhibit, David was also able to take some three-dimensional models of individual tracks, and create the model below. It was a great evening for us to be able to have a behind the scenes tour of such an excellent museum and state park!