KENNEWICK, Wash. – Typically when someone sees fossils they are in a museum. According to Gary Kleinknecht, the Education Coordinator for the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Dig site, in 1999 someone uncovered a Mammoth bone in Coyote Canyon. The group is looking for some help to continue the digging.
Kleinknecht said ever since he, along with the dig crew and volunteers, have been looking for Mammoth bones at the site.
”Half a million years, these guys were walking around the Columbia Basin,” said Kleinknecht. “They would probably come here on a migratory thing. Summer time is the time to eat the grass.”
According to Kleinknecht, the Ice Age is the reason the pre-historic creatures came to the area.
He said since 1999 over 50 Mammoth remains have been found in Benton County alone.
The group have been busy since they had to close for over a year because of the pandemic. Kleinknecht said because of Covid, they are still recovering because some of the volunteers didn’t come back after the pandemic was over.
The site is made possible by a variety of community members who dedicate their time to telling thousands of years of stories through the work they do.
”All projects that are volunteer dependent, need more volunteers,” said Kleinknecht. “This one is a little bit unique.”
He said the dig site needs more than a dozen volunteers. The work begins in the early spring and typically ends in October. The work is done two weekends a month. The only requirement to be a volunteer is to take a tour. Kleinknecht said you don’t have to have a technical background, you’ll be trained on the job.
Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Kleinknecht by email at gary.kleinknecht@charter.net
