Dino treasures find new home in Vernal

Residents here created the Utah Field House of Natural History in the 1940s to stem the flow of fossils away from the Uinta Basin by providing space to store the ancient treasures and give locals a place to see artifacts of the dinosaurs that once roamed the region.

That collection, about 30,000 fossils, has been stored in an old building in Vernal since the Field House moved down the highway to new digs in 2004.

"We don’t want these fossils hopping on trains and going east," newly named Utah State Parks Director Fred Hayes told the crowd. "A lot of people and groups came together to keep what came from Utah in Utah."

The 11,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is being funded largely by$1.5 million from the Uintah Impact Mitigation Special Service District. Salt Lake Tribune