The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. | August 31, 2007

Our last major stop for the day on the Gold Belt Byway was Indian Springs Ranch, a ranch and campsite owned by the Thorson Family. The Indian Springs Trace Fossil Site is a National Natural Landmark (NNL) protected by the federal government, but it is owned by the Thorson Family and you must have permission and be accompanied by a family member to visit the site. Tours may be arranged by calling ahead.

Category: Activities, Biology, Geology, Gold Belt Byway, History, Paleontology, Science, Travel | 4 Comments »
Tags:

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. | August 29, 2007

Our first stop in the Garden Park Fossil Area was a view of Edward Drinker Cope’s quarries. Cope (1940-1897) was a well-known and notorious paleontologist, as much for his sometimes vicious rivalry with Othniel Charles Marsh for new dinosaur discoveries, which came to be known as the “Bone Wars.”

Category: Activities, Geology, Gold Belt Byway, Paleontology, Science, Travel | 1 Comment »
Tags:

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. | August 27, 2007

Towards the end of the summer, Dr. Herb Meyer took our paleontology interns, Kathy Salas and Eva Lyon, and myself on a tour of part of the Gold Belt Byway. The Gold Belt Byway is a National Scene Byway which winds through spectacular scenery and includes 21 stops of historic or scientific importance, including Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, the Cripple Creek Mining District, the rich dinosaur fossil sites of Garden Park, and an important Ordovician trace fossil site at Indian Springs Ranch.

Category: Activities, Geology, Gold Belt Byway, Paleontology, Science, Travel | 5 Comments »
Tags:

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. | August 25, 2007

We’ve added a new feature for those who want to be notified of website updates by email. You can receive a daily notification of updates to the Friends website with summaries and links to full articles by signing up for the RSS feed by email (you can also use your web browser or another RSS reader to monitor the site by going to http://www.fossilbeds.org/rss).

Category: Friends, News, Website | No Comments »
Tags:

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. | August 23, 2007

Our last two field days were a great example of how scientific fieldwork doesn’t always run smoothly. After last week’s heavy rains, most of the shale was buried in mud, and the exposed shale was extremely fragile.

Category: Antero Formation, Notes from the Field, Paleontology, Research, Science | No Comments »
Tags: