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High school students ask commissioners to back proposal making Hynerpeton Pennsylvania's state fossil
Summary
Students from Bucktail High School presented Feb. 10 to Clinton County commissioners seeking local support to petition state legislators to designate Hynerpeton bassetti — a Devonian tetrapod discovered at Red Hill — as Pennsylvania's state fossil; Red Hill Field Station curator invited commissioners to visit the lab and see specimens.
Students from Bucktail High School's student government and ecology class presented to the Clinton County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 10 seeking county support for legislation to change Pennsylvania's state fossil to Hynerpeton bassetti, a Devonian-era tetrapod discovered at Red Hill.
"We are here to get legislation started to change our state fossil," said McKenna Bismond, an 11th-grade student and member of the school's student government and ecology class. Students said the current state fossil, the trilobite, is widespread across many states and that Hynerpeton bassetti — found at the Red Hill site in Hyner, Pennsylvania — is unique to the state and has greater educational and historical resonance.
Martin Lewis, student government president and a senior, and Madison Mason, student government vice president and a senior, outlined objectives including local government support, assistance presenting to state representatives, community education, and timing the effort to coincide with America's upcoming 250th anniversary celebrations. The students displayed a 3-D printed model intended to represent Hynerpeton based on fossil evidence.
Doug Rowe, curator of the Red Hill Field Station, spoke in support and invited commissioners and the public to visit the station. "You are invited to visit the lab," Rowe said, describing an exhibit of specimens including skull fragments and fin plates and noting the field station's role in active research.
County staff member Beth (first name only in the transcript) introduced the students and said she helped connect the group with the America PA 250 initiative and with county officials to encourage the educational aspect of the project.
Commissioners thanked the students for their presentation. The transcript records expressions of support and invitations to follow the legislative process but does not record a formal county endorsement or a motion to take official action.
Background: Hynerpeton bassetti is a tetrapod known from late Devonian deposits at Red Hill in Hyner, Pennsylvania. The students said the fossil represents an important stage in the evolutionary transition from water to land and argued it would make Pennsylvania's state fossil more distinctive. The Red Hill Field Station offers public exhibits and fieldwork opportunities, according to Rowe.
