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Local parks booster Joe Sausen poses in the photo, showing the size of  a fossil-laden slab, making the short move from a North Branch housing development to a permanent place in Clayton Anderson Family Memorial Park. North Branch developer Dave Melby brought the find  to the attention of city officials, and they cooperatively made a plan so the fossils wouldn’t be destroyed and the treasure would be on public property.  Sausen, who at one time taught earth sciences,  has been involved in a non-profit foundation that has supported Chisago County parks and trails for 30 years.  He reports that the slab is likely a remnant from the DesMoines lobe— part of glacier ice activity 15,000 to 17,000 years ago. North Branch was in a massive glacial lake,  stretching from Grantsburg, WI to Anoka, MN.  The “sand plain” terrain North Branch is known for, consists of the fine sand and clay that lay at that lake bottom. The fossils pictured are likely coral and brachiopods.

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