LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Tuesday, the Nevada Division of State Parks, Governor Joe Lombardo, Lt. Governor Stavros Anthony, other government officials and private donors, celebrated the official ribbon cutting ceremony at Ice Age Fossils State Park, Nevada’s newest state park. FOX5 was there for a sneak peek before the public opening on Saturday.
Officially announced in January of 2017 as part of Governor Brian Sandoval’s “Explore Your Nevada Initiative,” this 315-acre park, rich in paleontological treasures, offers visitors immersive interpretive programming and environmental education. It will serve as a base for natural and cultural history programs, interpretive hikes, and tours along several miles of newly established trails. This unique state park will remain a major resource for scientific research and fossil discoveries.
A giant art installation, “Monumental Mammoth” now stands guard at the entry. She started as a sketch by then 15-year-old Tahoe Mack.
“It is a project I worked on all through high school for my Girl Scout Gold Award Project…the sculpture is of a Columbian Mammoth which the fossils are found here…Beneath all this desert it’s like thousands of fossils, so I was just so inspired, so excited,” Mack exclaimed.
Those fossils date back 25,000 years to when the Vegas Valley was wet and green, the origins of the park to 2017 under then Governor Brian Sandoval who designated more than 300 acres of land to be protected stopping urban expansion and forever preserve its fossil beds. From a mammoth tusk to camel tracks to a full camel skeleton, inside the visitor center the best finds are on display but many are still waiting to be unearthed.
The Helmsley charitable trust awarded a $3.5 million grant to make the park possible.
WHERE: Ice Age Fossils State Park, 8660 N Decatur Blvd. North Las Vegas, NV 89085 (across from Shadow Ridge High School)
WHEN: Ice Age Fossils State Park will be open to the public on weekends from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. beginning January 20, 2024. It will be open seven days a week once enough staff is hired.
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