Officials break ground for Riverbluff Cave field station

The field station will be used primarily for researching specimens found inside the cave, which was discovered Sept. 11, 2001 during contractor blasting to extend Cox Avenue. Organizers also said the facility would be used as an education center for the Riverbluff Cave project. The site is at 2327 W. FR 190.

“This is a long time in the making,” said Matt Forir, Springfield-Greene County Parks Naturalist and the project’s lead paleontologist. “Once this building is done, we’ll be digging in the cave.”

Forir, also the executive director of the Natural History Museum of the Ozarks, will lead onsite educational classes.

Riverbluff Cave is the oldest-known fossil cave in North America as sediment and vegetation date back 830,000 years. According to a city of Springfield news release, the site is attracting scientists from around the world.

The Springfield-Greene County Park Board is funding the project, which will be constructed by Morelock-Ross Properties. Morelock-Ross and other subcontractors have donated some materials. Bill Ernst is project architect.