A mammoth one for the mammoth: When Gary Jones, a DuPage Forest Preserve District employee, stumbled onto a bunch of bones at Blackwell Forest Preserve 20 years ago, he knew they were far too big to be those of a cow or a coyote. Thus began the biggest paleontological dig in DuPage County.
The bones belonged to a woolly mammoth, a member of the elephant family that roamed the Great Lakes region during the Ice Age. They had been buried for more than 13,000 years.
“Perhaps the Blackwell mammoth’s major significance was in bringing public relations attention to the district,” said Dan Gooch, interim executive director.
To commemorate the date Jones found the bones, the district has planned a “Mammoth Celebration” on Saturday, June 21, with a hike to the Blackwell/McKee Marsh site (9-11 a.m.) and a variety of activities at Fullersburg Woods (1-3 p.m.), where the remains are on display.