The St. George dinosaur museum, Dinosaur Discovery Site, is proud to welcome its new executive director, Dr. Liz Freedman Fowler. This announcement comes at an exciting time for the museum as construction begins on a new boardwalk that will take visitors out over the tracksite itself to get up-close views of fascinating dinosaur tracks that guests were never able to see before.
Fowler completed her Ph.D. at Montana State University with famed paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner, the scientific adviser for the “Jurassic Park” films. She has led dinosaur digs with the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont., for over a decade and most recently was the curator of paleontology at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Mont.
Her research in Montana focused on the evolution of duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs), and she was part of a team that studied how raptor birds and raptor dinosaurs killed their prey.
“This research on dinosaur behavior was based on studying their feet and claws,” Fowler said, “and footprints are the real evidence of foot behavior, so I am very excited to be here in St. George with some of the best dinosaur tracks in the world.”
Fowler plans to use her expertise in museum work and organizing dinosaur digs to expand the public programming offered by the museum, to enhance local appreciation of the amazing fossils in Washington County, and to raise the museum’s profile to attract new visitors from around the world.
“We are so thrilled to have Dr. Liz join us,” said Gary Watts, president of the board of directors of the DinosaurAh!Torium, which operates the museum. “Last year over 6,000 local residents and 32,000 visitors came to the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site, and Dr. Liz is bringing us great new ideas for growing the museum.”
The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum showcases over 6,000 tracks made by dinosaurs and other Jurassic animals, including the world’s largest collection of dinosaur swim tracks. The new walkway exhibit is scheduled to open in early March.
