The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc.

The bright red-orange and scarlet blooms of the scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja mineata, also called great red paintbrush, giant red paintbrush, and Indian paintbrush) are a common sight in the grasslands of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument from about May through September.

While the paleontology of Florissant has been studied extensively, the geology is less well-known. This summer and over the next few years, Dr. Charles Ver Straeten, a sedimentary geologist from the New York State Museum, will be studying the preservation of volcanic ash layers in the late Eocene Florissant Formation, which dates to about 34 Ma (million years ago).

We’d love to feature your photos on the Friends website or in the newsletter! You can email your digital photos to Melissa Barton at webmaster@fossilbeds.org, or contact her to arrange to mail prints for scanning (prints will be returned) or a CD-ROM.

Join us this weekend, June 23-24, for the 43rd Annual Pikes Peak Gem & Mineral Show! The Friends will have a table with fossil exhibits and brochures. Stop by to help staff the Friends table or just see what’s going on.

Don’t forget about this Saturday’s exciting field seminar, Cenozoic Geology and Happenings Recorded at Selected Sites in Southwestern South Park, Colorado. Local geologist Dr. Don Rasmussen will lead a tour of the geology, paleontology, archaeological, and historical sites of southwestern South Park. The emphasis will be on Cenozoic geology of the the last 50 million years.