The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc.

Students in 2007’s paleontology seminar explore a fossil mammal site in Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
The Friends’ summer seminar series at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is now open for registration. These hands-on, field-based seminars are aimed at teachers and other adults interested in the science and history of the Rocky Mountains. They […]

Lots of events for this spring and summer posted are to the calendar.
Highlights:
February 17 - “Fossils! Florissant’s Claim to Fame” Chautauqua sponsored by the Pikes Peak Historical Society
March 15 - Open House at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, with morning hike led by the Friends
April 25-28 - CAEE Teaching OUTSIDE the Box Conference
July 26 - […]

Dr. Wayne Shepperd’s aspen ecology seminar on August 11th finished the summer seminar series. The seminar was well-attended by local teachers, who had a chance to go out in the field to see different aspects of aspen ecology and discuss possible conservation methods for encouraging growth in different types of stands.

This Saturday, August 11, is the last of the 2007 summer seminars. Dr. Wayne Shepperd, the administrator of the Manitou Experimental Forest near Woodland Park, will teach this class on quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), the most widely distributed tree species in North America. Persistent, yet short-lived; adapated to disturbance, yet vulnerable to damage and disease, aspen ecology is unique.

On Sunday, July 29, the paleontology seminar visited one of the park’s best mammal sites to look for fossils. Unfortunately, they did not find much this time, one of the unavoidable disappointments of field science.