By
Sally Shelton on April 22nd, 2009
I am posting this at Michelle Pinsdorf’s request. There will be several people from here going, and again we should be able to provide transportation.
From Michelle: I thought it would be great to pass the word around about the 2nd annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, being hosted at the Tate Museum in Casper this summer. The conference runs from June 5-7th, is nice and close by, offers discounts on hotel rooms, and has a sliding scale of registration fees depending on the days and activities one wants to participate in.
The website for the symposium is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/index.html
(click the “Activities” tab and then click the “Annual Summer Conference” bar), while the schedule of events and speakers is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/downloads/2009_tateconf_schedule.pdf
and the registration form is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/downloads/2009_tate_registration.pdf
I’d very much like to go, and would be happy to make plans with others to split driving, rooms, etc., so I think this might be a good thing to announce in class and/or just around the department in general, before everyone goes everywhere for the summer.
By
Sally Shelton on April 22nd, 2009
The 8th Conference on Fossil Resources will be held May 19-21 in St. George, Utah. Information from their site is posted below. This will be immediately followed by a 2-day symposium on ‘Advances in Late Cretaceous paleontology in the Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument’ in the same venue (May 22-23, the Dixie Center). The Museum of Geology is taking a group of students to this. Only transportation costs for those students riding in the van can be covered by the Museum. Early registration unfortunately has ended, but there is room for 1 or 2 more students in the van. We will camp out on the way down and on the way back, and you are responsible for your gear, food, and lodging costs. It will be a great opportunity to see Utah geology and paleontology. If you are interested, please contact Sally.
About the Conferences on Fossil Resources:
The Conference on Fossil Resources convenes periodically to provide an opportunity for public land managers, professional scientists and interested amateurs to come together to discuss successes, discoveries and land management policy to protect and enhance our Nation’s paleontological resources. Through collaboration, we seek to maximize scientific, educational and recreational opportunities on our public lands.
The 2009 conference will be the eighth time this group has convened.
The 8th CFR will be attended by representatives from various
government agencies, professional paleontologists, students and interested parties from several countries. Sessions will be held on the following topics:
. Paleontological research on public lands
. Permitting and museum collections
. Partnerships in management and research
. Law enforcement and fossil protection
. Education stewardship and public involvement
. International perspectives
The conference will also include field trips and social / networking events.
More information at:
http://www.8cfr.org
http://www.learningfromtheland.org/cretaceousconference/
By
Michelle P on April 12th, 2009
Word is spreading amongst the local community about the new paleo building and its groundbreaking events. Here’s a link to the Rapid City Journal article from the groundbreaking festivities, including public feedback. I’m very encouraged by the positive response to the new building. It’s nice to know that there’s a crowd out there that can’t wait to have a better view of what goes on in the labs, and get up close to some ‘real’ paleontology. Given the current economic situation, it’s also great to see people recognizing the good in renewing infrastructure and construction in the area.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/local/doc49da881491efe768939285.txt
By
Heidi on April 9th, 2009
On a beautiful Spring day an event 30 years in the making finally occured. The Groundbreaking for the new Paleontology Center was held on Tuesday, April 7. The President of the School of Mines, Robert Wharton, kicked off the ceremony with an excellent speech and then introduced the Governor of South Dakota, Michael Rounds. Gov. Rounds then spoke for a few moments and then a Board of Regents representative also spoke a few words. Then many people who were instrumental in the buildings design were given shovels and the groundbreaking commenced. Afterwards we all went inside to the King Center and socialized over refreshments. Many came for the event including National Park Representatives, the Corps of Engineers, and a large number of students, faculty, and staff. Many people have worked tirelessly for many years to have this building constructed, including Dr. James Martin and Dr. James Fox. The building is so desperately needed because we are in dire need of space to properly house the collections and laboratories. This gives a chance to properly house the collection of over 300,000 fossil and mineral specimens according to Federal Repositories standards. It will also have new state of the art labs for preparation and molding and casting. There will be space for offices, archives, and maps. Many of us are extremely excited about this new opportunity for our program to grow. Below is an image of what the building will look like when complete.
The Final Product
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