2019 Seminars

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Florissant Fossil Beds, The Friends of Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. is offering five seminars focused primarily on the Florissant Fossil Beds and the Pikes Peak region.  These day long seminars cover a variety of subjects such as geology, biology, humanities, and paleontology. The registration fee for each seminar is $25.00 per one -day seminar. For more details call (719) 510-5518. Reduced rates are available for members of the Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc.
Pre-Registration is required for all seminars.

Teachers can earn undergraduate and graduate credit through the Division of Extended Studies of Adams State University. Adams State charges $27.50 for a ½ graduate credit for a one -day seminar. BOCES recertification credit is available for $15.00 for ½ credit. Undergraduate credit will also be available.
Pre-registration is required.

If you are a member of the Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. or wish to join now the seminar fee is $15.00  Seminar discounts are only available to current members or those who join with their seminar registration. If you are no longer a member, you may wish to renew. You can become a Friends member here.

You may register using the on-line registration link, or by mail by downloading the required forms below.
Register on-line here
Download Registration form here
Download Adams State Form
Download 2019 flyer here
Download 2019 Brochure here

2019 SCHEDULE

 

Project Learning Tree, Saturday, June 29, 2019, 9:00AM – 5:00PM. Rose Banzhaf

CANCELLED

Project Learning Tree (PLT) is an award-winning environmental education program designed for formal and non-formal educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through grade 12. This workshop will introduce participants to the PLT materials, sample activities, and includes an opportunity for groups to present sample lessons. All participants will leave with a PLT guidebook (PreK-8 or a high school module) and activity supplies ready to be used with their students. The PLT guidebooks are designed to meet the common components of national education reform by using the constructivist approach to learning, whole language teaching, cooperative learning, problem solving, and authentic assessments.

The Big Flat, Saturday, July 13, 2019, 9:00AM – 5:00PM  Dr. Reinhard “Bud” Wobus
This Seminar is a higher level geology seminar.  A solid science background is recommended.

Volcanics (lava-, mud-, and pyroclastic flows) and sediments (lake beds, stream gravels , debris flows) mantle the high-level erosion surface of low relief that is arguably the most conspicuous landscape feature of the southern Front Range. These surface deposits provide the only widespread geologic datum that can be dated, thus documenting the age of post-volcanic vertical off sets along faults and the time of uplift of the Puma Hills. They also bracket the entire history of Lake Florissant before, during, and after its existence.  We will visit as many of these varied deposits as possible in a day, from the Monument west and southwest to Guffey, the source of the lava and  mudflows that dammed Ancient Lake Florissant. En route we will stop at exposures of Wall Mountain Tuff , deposited by explosive volcanism that reached almost to Denver from a source near Mt Princeton about 37 million years ago. The tuff exposures and post-volcanic stream gravels mark the course of former drainages that flowed across the erosion surface. You will gain a new appreciation for “The Big Flat” and its importance in the geologic history of this area. **This seminar features advanced
geology/science concepts. It is recommended for participants who have a solid science background.
Discovering, Observing, and Telling Nature’s Stories for Children and Adults Thursday, July 18, 2019, 9:00AM – 5:00PM  John Stansfield

Colorado naturalist, writer, and national park pioneer Enos Mills once said, “Nature is an educational stimulus of great force.” For him, the “book” of the natural world was always open, its contents waiting to be closely examined, its stories retold. In this seminar, John Stansfi eld, storyteller and writer, will guide participants through outdoor and indoor learning experiences to inspire discovery, observation, and recollection in
children and adults. The wisdom of Enos Mills and Dakota Indian author, outdoor leader, and doctor Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman) will influence two easy, but involving naturalist walks. We will share selections from their writings, as well. Using observations and memories from our walks and our lives, we will identify “tellable nature tales” and learn storytelling skills to present them and teach them to students. Stansfield will demonstrate a number of nature stories in a variety of storytelling styles. Participants will take away an increased understanding of the Florissant environment, several stories for retelling, and handouts to reinforce the learning objectives of the seminar.

From Our Origins to Today – A Geologist’s Perspective on Our Changing Times  Saturday, July 20, 2019, 9:00AM – 5:00PM  Dr. Bob Raynolds

Dr. Raynold will begin this course by discussing the 8 quantum leaps in history that humans have accomplished.  We will explore how these helped us evolve from hunter gathers to the present day. Through discussion, power point and reviews of literature we will study these quantum leaps in light of what the future holds for us. While we may have been literally born in the African Rift Valley, our ancestor’s bones are concentrated there because of the coincidence of favorable environments for living and fossil preservation.  Over the last 4,000,000 years, we made 8 quantum leaps leading ultimately to the era of accelerated extinction and fossil fuels. In our lifetime, the latest quantum leap, the INTERNET has trumped all. The world is changing leading to the Great Acceleration. In the past 10 years, the population of the Earth has increased
by a billion people. We are at an increased risk as more people live in harm’s way at sea level and amidst volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Science has propelled our population to beyond 7 million. Science has elevated hundreds of millions from poverty during our lifetime – yet science is poorly understood by many. Beguiled by progress, we have inadvertently , but knowingly triggered and accelerated the sixth extinction.
We condone a planetary life style where over a billion people lack clean water and are malnourished. Our world receives more energy than it emits due to man made       modifications of the atmosphere. This is changing the ocean temperature and chemistry together with global climate patterns. What does the future have in store for us.? Are we prepared to face the future?

Creating a Deep Map of the Florissant Fossil Beds  Wednesday, July 24, 2019, 9:00AM – 5:00PM  Toni Ratzlaf

Join Toni Ratzlaff for a day of bookmaking and exploring the history of the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. During the morning, we will explore the area’s geologic history. We will learn how the Monument was established and what events have occured here in the last 50 years. We will use this information to make several hand-made books. In the afternoon, we will create a “Florissant Fossil Beds Deep Map.”
The concept of “deep mapping” originated with the author William Least-Heat Moon in his book Prairyerth.  Simply described, it is a map that has more than just roads, waterways and physical characteristics. It it a map that goes deeper into information than the usual. It includes historical information, such as information about the people who lived there, what the place is like or any other info that the “author” might wish to include. Many ideas will be presented for using the “deep map” process to create books in a classroom setting or even with your family.

 

Register on-line here