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Bill to designate giant beaver as Minnesota state fossil advances with amendment
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Summary
A Minnesota House committee adopted an amendment to House File 791 to add Dakota and Ojibwe translations and laid the bill over after testimony in favor of designating Castorroides ohioensis, the giant beaver, as the state fossil.
A Minnesota House committee on Tuesday advanced House File 791, a bipartisan bill to designate Castorroides ohioensis — the giant beaver — as the state fossil, adopting an amendment to add Dakota and Ojibwe translations and then laying the bill over for further consideration.
The measure’s sponsor, Representative Myers, introduced the bill and called forward a testifier from the Science Museum of Minnesota to describe why the giant beaver was chosen. The amendment to add Dakota and Ojibwe names (A1) was moved by the chair and approved by voice vote.
Dr. Alex Hastings, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology at the Science Museum of Minnesota, told the committee that state symbols are “a wonderful educational opportunity where we can introduce new things to our kids as they’re growing up through the school system in particular as well as everyone else in the state.” He said more than 11,000 people weighed in when the museum and partners solicited public input and that Castorroides was the clear winner.
Hastings described the giant beaver as “a 200 pound rodent, the largest rodent ever in North America,” and said it lived in Minnesota during the last ice age and became extinct a bit over 10,000 years ago. He noted the species would have coexisted with the first people in the region and that the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council supported including indigenous-language translations. Hastings said the museum has a skeleton on exhibit from a site found within about seven miles of the Capitol in Saint Paul and another specimen from Minneapolis.
Representative Myers told the committee the bill is bipartisan and listed Representative Cagle, Representative Olson and Representative McDonald as co-authors. Myers also noted that at least one middle school class was watching the committee remotely.
Following brief member questions, the committee chair moved the A1 amendment and members approved it by voice vote. With the amendment adopted, the chair noted that House File 791 was laid over. The committee did not record a roll-call vote on the amendment or on laying the bill over.
Next steps will be for the bill to return to committee or the floor at a later date; the committee did not specify a date for further action during the hearing.
