A Lawrence resident who’s been a fossil hunter for nearly three decades wants the state of Kansas to recognize a state fossil.

Alan Detrich has been trying for 12 years to get the state to authorize a state fossil. And now he’s dedicating one last year to the cause before giving up.

Kansas is one of 11 states without a state fossil or dinosaur. Detrich wants Kansas to select the mosasaur, a large, swimming reptile predator common to Kansas when it was an inland sea millions of years ago.

He says declaring the mosasaur the state fossil could promote education and tourism to Kansas in part because of the abundance of fossils in the western part of the state.

—

Associated Press information from: Lawrence Journal-World