KENNEWICK — More than 15,000 years ago mammoths roamed the Tri-Cities area, with many meeting an untimely demise during a series of catacalysmic floods from Glacial Lake Missoula.
Their remains were discovered by chance in the late 1990s, and are now helping Tri-Cities scientists learn more about what our home was like in prehistoric times.
This summer, the public can get a chance to see the site for themselves. But they’ll have to act quickly, because tickets go fast.
Registration for the next round of tours at the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site opens Wednesday. Site officials recommend you stay up late to register right after midnight June 1.
The volunteer-run dig site gives Tri-Citians and others a connection to the distant past, especially children, said education director Gary Kleinknecht.
“This is really a good opportunity for kids to expand their horizons in the Tri-Cities area and see that there are ways they can get involved with hands on research, and maybe open the door for a career in science,” he said.
History
Kleinknecht said the bones were first discovered at the Coyote Canyon site in 1999 by someone digging into the hillside to sell dirt.
The man ended up finding bones, and a year later, he went back to take a picture of the area where he found them.
Nine years later, that picture landed in the hands of the current research director of the dig site. He decided to send a grad student from Central Washington University to the site to see what was really there.
Kleinknecht was a teacher at Kamiakin High School at the time, and brought some of his students to the site alongside the grad student, who also brought a team from CWU.
“From there, we found that there was a mammoth there, but the property was owned by the bank,” Kleinknecht said.
Five days later, a wheat farmer bought the property, and allowed Kleinknecht and his crew to work at the site all they wanted.
He said it was an amazing opportunity, because in a normal scenario, they would be given a time crunch or not be allowed to dig at all.
“We had the best of all worlds. We still have the best of all worlds,” he said. “And we’re making progress. We’re doing great.”
The dig site now helps expand knowledge of what the environment was like 17,000 years ago.
The volunteers at the dig site are currently conducting a study on the property to contribute to the understanding of how the climate has changed since the mammoth was alive, Kleinknecht said.
“We’re looking at all the other little life forms that have died on the landscape and been buried in the hillside as the dirt has accumulated,” he said. “Sometimes we think that the mammoth is in the way because we really are looking for the little stuff.”
The tours
Kleinknecht runs the tours. He said he loves talking to community members who come in, and he loves watching children get a kick out of the bones and fossils the dig site has on display.
“I just love sharing stories with people,” he said. “You meet some interesting characters, and it’s just very enjoyable to me.”
To reserve a spot for the free tours visit the website. School and group tours also can be arranged.
You also can find ways to volunteer and donate through the website.
