WASHINGTON (July 9, 2009)—The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Thursday passed a bill authored by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, that would make the Waco Mammoth Site a national monument under the National Park Service.

The full House could vote on the measure this fall.

“The Waco Mammoth Site is truly an American treasure,” Edwards said Thursday.

“It represents unique living history that deserves to be preserved and protected for the education and enjoyment of families and children throughout Texas and this great nation for many years to come,” he said.

Texas Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison have filed a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

The legislation endorses a plan that would permit the Park Service to join an existing partnership between Waco and Baylor University to protect and preserve the site and to promote visitor tourism.

As part of the National Park System, the Waco Mammoth site will be an incredible educational tool for Central Texas schools and students,” Edwards said.

“It will also become a major tourist attraction that will bring visitors and researchers to Waco from across the nation and throughout the world.

“When this legislation becomes law, the Waco Mammoth site will join the ranks of American landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Fort Sumter, and George Washington’s birthplace,”

The site, which was discovered more than 30 years ago, contains the largest known concentration of wooly mammoths that died in a single event.

A painstaking excavation of the site has uncovered the remains of 25 Columbian mammoths that died nearly 68,000 years ago, probably after they were caught in a flash flood.

Work started last year on construction of a permanent protective cover and viewing pavilion at the site.