The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

New Books at Monument Bookstore

The Rocky Mountain Nature Association (RMNA) is the concessionaire for the bookstore at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. People step in the front door of the visitor center many times just to buy books. The books and many other items are chosen carefully by Jo Beckwith, the manager for RMNA.

Jo wishes you to know about several new titles that have arrived recently. In addition to these new titles, many more are being ordered for the summer of 2008 (the bookstore also carries Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods if you need a copy).

Look for these new titles when you pay us a visit:

Birding Colorado: Over 180 Premier Birding Sites at 93 Locations, by Hugh Kingery, is a new field guide featuring over 90 prime birding locations with more than 179 sites in total. $19.95.

Colorado Journey Guide, by Jon Kramer and Julie Martinez, is a driving and hiking guide to fossils, formations, ruins and rock art throughout the state. The guide features Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument as the best paleontological site in Colorado. $16.95.

Tourist Guide to Colorado in 1879, by Frank Fossett, takes the reader on a historic trip through Colorado, including 1879 prices, travel, accommodations and other fun facts. $8.95.

Come visit the Monument, see the new exhibits, and browse in the bookstore. If you can’t make it to the park in person, you can order books and others items from RMNA at their website, www.rmna.org.

-Sally McCracken Maertens

Upcoming Events

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds are pleased to announce that we have confirmed a speaking date for Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. October 3-5, 2008, will mark a weekend of outdoor activities planned by planned by the Friends, Colorado College, the Catamount Institute, the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the Sierra Club and the School in the Woods. More information about this event will be posted as it becomes available.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument will be hosting an open house on Saturday, March 15, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Friends will lead a hike at 10:00 a.m. Join us in the yurt for hot chocolate, snacks, and fun!

The Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, a Friends partner, will be holding a conference April 25-27 called Teaching OUTSIDE the Box. This conference will bring together classroom teachers, environmental educators, interpreters, policy makers, and natural resource professionals to share techniques for outdoor education.

The Friends will provide four $100.00 scholarships for teachers from targeted school districts: Woodland Park, Manitou Springs, Cripple Creek, and the Lake George Charter School.

To learn more about upcoming events the Friends are involved in, visit our Event Calendar. We hope to see you soon!

-Melissa Barton