The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has instrumental in this project.  CDOT paleontologist Steve Wallace discovered the site in 1994 and contacted Kirk Johnson, curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS).  CDOT has provided funding to enable museum staff to collect the fossil leaves of the Castle Rock rainforest over the summer of 2002.

CDOT has also provided backhoes and bulldozers to assist in removing upper layers of 'overburden'.  This has been a tremendous time-saver, enabling the project team to focus our efforts on the most important tasks of recovery.  We thank CDOT for all their support, not just on the Castle Rock Fossil Rainforest project, but on all the projects they have assisted in over the years.

What's the Most Valuable Tool to the Paleontologist in a Fossil Quarry?

Surely, CDOT's backhoes would receive many votes from Castle Rock team members!

Steve Wallace, CDOT paleontologist,  monitors backhoe work in removing
overburden layer from quarry KJ0214 - 7/16/2002
 

CDOT backhoe removing overburden from quarry.  These backhoes and their operators
have saved us weeks of hard labor, allowing us to focus on the actual leaf layers underneath. - 7/16/2002

THANK YOU CDOT!!!