The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc.

Notes From the Field: A Tale of Two Lakes…

The view west across South Park from near our collection site.
The second day, we started by looking for a known Antero Formation locality near where we worked on day one, but the rock was very eroded and it was difficult to tell whether the rocks were fossil-bearing. We then returned to our first site and made a second pass. Because of the level of weathering and our limit to the road easement, we worked the site in pieces, primarily on the surface.

Again, mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus) was by far the most common fossil, but we also found some nice specimens of pine (Pinus) with intact needle bundles, a few fragments of cypress (Chamaecyparis), some well-preserved snails, and a few leaves that will require careful examination under a microscope. We spoke with the county road grader and plan to collect again after he’s dragged the ditch by our site. This should get through most of the dirt and turn over some fresh shale for us.

On the first day, we saw a few small coyotes, possibly pups, but not much wildlife in evidence this time, aside from a few birds. The wildflowers are still in bloom, however, and of course there are a lot of free-range cows.

We left the Antero site just ahead of a thunderstorm (which you can see moving east in this photo) and stopped at Wilkerson Pass on the way back for lunch. The hummingbirds are extremely active and aggressive right now, and the visitor center feeders are a great place to observe them.

If you have any questions, you can comment below and I’ll try to answer (your email address will not be posted publically or shared; it is only for verification purposes).

-Melissa Barton

Photo Credits: Melissa Barton

This project is funded by a Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit agreement with the University of Colorado, and permission to work and collect in South Park road easements was granted by Park County and the State of Colorado. The fossils will remain the property of the State, to be reposited for future study and exhibit at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument or the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.

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