Pittsburgh ? A Wyoming rancher with no connection to the University of Pittsburgh has given the school 4,700 acres of land littered with dinosaur fossils.

The university plans to maintain the land, valued at $7 million, for students and researchers in geology, archaeology and other disciplines. The university plans to team up on programs there with the University of Wyoming and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Allen Cook, of Wheatland, Wyo., said he was getting ready to sell part of his ranch and decided to donate land to the university after an appraiser put him in touch with Alec Stewart, dean of the university’s honors college and the appraiser’s graduate school classmate.

“The amazing thing is that Cook, who had absolutely no connection with the University of Pittsburgh, had decided that we would be good stewards for this treasure,” Stewart said.

The 57-year-old rancher said the university’s interest “seemed kind of in line with what I’d like – that the land would be preserved.”

Pitt already has a program on the other side of Wyoming, where students explore the geological, ecological and cultural dimensions of Yellowstone National Park.