03/25/2024
What is special about Petrified Forest National Park?
Petrified Forest calls itself a Triassic park. It preserves more than 200 million years of history, including its namesake petrified wood.
It’s the only place chindesaurus fossils have ever been found. Coelophysis fossils have also been discovered in the park, but dinosaurs only make up a fraction of the prehistoric life that once thrived across its more than 221,000 acres.
“Everything else is an ancient reptile or ancient mammal ancestor or ancient plants,” Barnett said.
Visitors can see paleontologists work on a variety of fossils and artifacts at the park’s Museum Demonstration Lab or ask park rangers about Petrified Forest’s more modern history.
“We're working on rehabilitating our prairie dog population, so maybe someday we'll get to reintroduce the black-footed ferret, which is the most endangered mammal in North America,” Barnett said.
The park also preserves a portion of historic Route 66.
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For many travelers, Petrified Forest may be a stop to somewhere else, like the Grand Canyon, but this national park is special in its own right.
