The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

July 29, 2008

Redwoods in Colorado?

Filed under: Activities, Education, Interpretation, News, People, Resources — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 12:00 pm

Reconstruction of Florissant forest by Rob Wood

Artist’s reconstruction of the ancient Florissant forest by Rob Wood. NPS.

The July August issue of The Interpreter, a magazine for professional and volunteer interpretive educators, features as its cover story an article by Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Volunteer Interpretive Specialist Heidi Bailey called “Are Your Stories Lost in Space? Interpret the Geography of a Place.”

In the article, Bailey uses Florissant as a vivid example of how telling the geographic as well as historical story of a place can enrich interpretation and engage visitors.

Bailey writes

Geography is about visualizing large spaces, getting acquainted with special places, and connecting to the Earth as a whole. The places and spaces around us are integral to our lives and should play a significant role in the stories we tell.

Bailey provides concrete activities that interpreters can use in their work. She can be contacted at hbailey@fossilbeds.org.

July 27, 2008

Tickets for Richard Louv presentation available August 1

Filed under: Activities, Conservation, Education, Events, For Kids, For Teachers, Lectures, People — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 12:00 pm

Last Child in the Woods book coverThanks to partnerships with the Catamount Institute and other local organization, Colorado residents will have the chance to hear Richard Louv, author of the award-winning book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal, speak at the Pikes Peak Center this October.

Tickets go on sale August 1 at 10 a.m. This event is part of No Child Left Inside Weekend, a collaboration between many Pikes Peak area parks and nature centers. For more information about scheduled activities and events as it becomes available, visit Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument’s No Child Left Inside website.

Who: Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
When: 7:00 p.m., Friday, October 3, 2008 (doors open at 5:30 p.m. for exhibits)
Where: Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs, CO

For more information, email info@catamountinstitute.org or call 719-471-0910, Ext. 106. Tickets go on sale August 1 at 10 a.m. Adults $10, Educators $7, Students $5. Contact Tickets West at 719-520-SHOW.

May 25, 2008

Last of new exhibits installed

Filed under: Activities, Education, Exhibits, For Kids, Geology, Interpretation, Paleontology, Science — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 12:00 pm

New exhibit panels

The last of the new Visitor Center exhibits at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument have been installed. They include a diagram of a stratigraphic column showing the different types of rocks in the park, touchable samples of rock and fossil wood, and an changing board showcasing currently research at the park and partnership projects like the conservation of the Sexi Petrified Forest in Peru.

These exhibits greatly enhance the park’s ability to educate visitors, and display some of the park’s most spectacular fossil specimens along with hands-on activities for kids. The free Junior Ranger Program is a great complement to the new exhibits.

-Melissa Barton

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March 25, 2008

Richard Louv to speak in Colorado Springs

Filed under: Activities, Education, Events, For Kids, Lectures, Partnerships — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 4:44 pm

by Sally McCracken Maertens, Friends Vice President

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t pick up a magazine, a newspaper, a professional journal, or a newsletter and see a reference to getting our kids outside again. So many of us “older fossils” were raised outdoors. It is sad to hear kids say that they would rather be inside with video games and computers.

Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder has made us sit up and take notice. The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, state parks, health organizations, environmental agencies, and educational institutions have all begun to work on initiatives to “leave no child inside.”

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds have finally been able to confirm a speaking engagement date with Richard Louv. Mark Friday, October 3, 2008, on your calendars! A weekend of outdoor activities is being planned by a core group of stakeholders, including Colorado College, the Catamount Institute, Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the Sierra Club and the School in the Woods. We are all very excited. Credit will be available for teachers.

Once the basics are accomplished by the planning team, more information will be available to our members. We hope that the weekend of October 3-5 will be a great event for the people of El Paso and Teller County. We will be looking for volunteers to help with various aspects of the event. If you would like to help, please contact Sally McCracken Maertens at smaertens@fossilbeds.org.

February 10, 2008

Visitors love new Junior Ranger Program

Filed under: Activities, Education, For Kids, Interpretation — The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. @ 1:38 am

VIP Sally Maertens helps young visitors make casts of tracksLast summer, teacher Greg Spalding led the effort to revise Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument’s Junior Ranger Program. Spalding received a Junior Ranger Ambassador grant, and after a week of training in Washington, D.C., he worked with Lead Interpretive Ranger Jeff Wolin to redesign the park’s Junior Ranger activity book.

Spalding also organized the Monument’s first Junior Ranger Day on July 21, 2007. Young visitors learned about fire safety, fossils, and wildlife with activities such as making plaster casts of animal tracks and splitting shale to find fossils.

Ranger Jeff Wolin and Junior Rangers take the Junior Ranger Pledge“The new Junior Ranger book has more activities and reaches a wider audience,” Wolin says. “The activities are engaging, educational, and fun.”

The Friends and the Junior Ranger Ambassador Grant paid for the printing of the new activity book, which was published in December. Kids and parents love the new program:

I wanted to send a thank you to all of the staff and the ranger who assisted our family on Saturday this past week. Traveling to NPS sites is a hobby and something we have done for some years now. You have an excellent site. But you have excellent people which just adds to the site.

My daughter loves the Junior Ranger Programs and as I shared that day, yours is the best I have seen out of the dozens we have done. The staff who assisted her just continue to build that passion for history and nature and I cannot thank you enough for this.

That was one of the best mornings we have spent and I thank you for the experience. I hope you will send this to your district supervisor because our next generations are being educated by some great people…you. As both a parent and a citizen, I can not stress enough how impressed I was with your work.

Greg Block

The Junior Ranger Program is always available during the park’s visitation hours. For more information, call 719-748-3253 or ask at the front desk in the Visitor Center when you visit. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., 7 days a week, except Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

-Melissa Barton

Photo Credits: Friends Vice President and park volunteer Sally Maertens helps young visitors make casts of tracks (NPS Photo), Ranger Jeff Wolin and Junior Rangers take the Junior Ranger Pledge (NPS Photo)

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