Fossil & Prairie Park Preserve

[Kohlsdorf] We're diving deep into Iowa history at the Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve outside Rockford.

365 million years ago, this land was covered by shallow sea.

Today, visitors can unearth ancient marine life among the waves of prairie grass.

Let's dig in.

♪♪ [Heidi Reams] This is just one of Floyd County's hidden treasures.

It's one of our areas that is managed by Floyd County Conservation, and it is most known for our Devonian fossils that everyone can come and collect as well as being the home to the Rockford Brick and Tile Company.

It is because of the Rockford Brick and Tile Company that our fossils were discovered by accident.

They were harvesting the clay to make bricks and drainage tiles out of the quarry.

And as they were doing that, there were these hard chunks that were in the way.

And those are the fossils that everyone comes to collect today.

[Kohlsdorf] What kind of fossils do you find out here?

[Heidi Reams] These are Devonian fossils, though they're about 365 million years old, when Iowa was somewhere between a shallow sea to an ocean.

They're all marine invertebrates, which means they lived in saltwater but didn't have any skeletons.

They all have shells.

[Kohlsdorf] When anyone comes out here, do they usually find something?

[Heidi Reams] I don't know of anyone that goes home empty handed.

A lot of them come thinking that they're looking for dinosaur fossils, so there is some disappointment there.

They come with shovels, rock picks, garden tools and the only tool you really need are your fingers.

Because every time it rains, it uncovers a whole new crop and they can just bend over and pick them up.

I don't know anyone that doesn't go home with pockets full of them.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] There's plenty to do at this 292 acre Floyd County Park.

[birds chirping] [Kohlsdorf] The Fossil and Prairie Center opens seasonally with exhibits on the Rockford Brick and Tile Company.

The ancient fossils found here and the natural prairie that surrounds it.

A short walk brings travelers to two of the Brick and Tile Company's historic beehive kilns.

Beyond the preserve's industrial and archeological history, it offers all the classic outdoor experiences too.

Hike or bike the trails, explore the prairie or fish in the quarry.

But today we're here for the fossils.

[Kohlsdorf] Heidi, give us a quick tutorial of some of the fossils we'll find here today.

[Heidi Reams] So the most common ones you're going to find are the brachiopods.

And then you've got the gastropods, which are snails.

Crinoids, which are sea lilies, and they still exist in the oceans today.

And then horn corals, which to me look like little ice cream cones or little tornadoes.

And then if you're really lucky, you can find a colony coral, which to me looks like the surface of the moon.

[Kohlsdorf] So we don't have to search far for these, right?

[Heidi Reams] No, there's probably some right below us right now.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, let's take a look.

[Heidi Reams] All right.

If you use the sun, you should be able to see some of the shells as they shine.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

[Kohlsdorf] I think it's this one, right?

This is the big one.

[Heidi Reams] That is.

That's a brachiopod.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] People don't have to look far.

And how do they kind of react when they think that, oh, I'm touching this thing that existed so many millions of years ago.

[Heidi Reams] People are pretty excited to be able to find them, and especially as easily and as quickly as they can, and then to take home a piece of history with them and a souvenir of their experience.

I love to see everyone's excitement when they find their first one, or they find the one that they've really been looking for.

[Kohlsdorf] Yeah.

Well, thanks for showing us around today, Heidi, I really appreciate it.

This has been fun to do some fossil digging today.

[Heidi Reams] You are very welcome.

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