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Well, this year we did not battle the gods of snow and mud. The temperatures were also not scorching this year, with a nice breeze and a hint of a drizzle coming into the area instead. This Baculite Mesa location is always a (WIPS) Western Interior Palentological Society favorite led by our respected leader Malcolm Bedell. Several experts on the site were in attendance, so good advice and information was graciously provided as always ... Looking toward the mesa. The helpers are READY ! .. they did a good job this time. The hike there and back took a good three hours of time. Exercising their little muscles for a dad win. Only have a few of those so they are treasured. Comon' dad, I wanna climb ! Ok, first, we must stop off and smell the flowers blooming in the desert this time of year. This is the typical presentation of the Baculites, usually as casts. Or eroding quickly out of the formation. We have had tons of rain and snow this year, so their scattered skeletons were everywhere. Generally I pick up a few as giveaways. Still some of the original shell on this one. A good example of what you will usually find in the area. I was most interested in exploring the Tepee Buttes this year. These carbonate deposits were created by cold methane seeps. These seeps, in turn, colonized by microbes that fix the chemical energy, supporting a vibrant marine community. There are at least half-a-dozen surrounding the local area. Inoceramus sp. are common at the vent sites. I believe these bivalves are Nymphalucina occidentalis and are common on the buttes. They often are filled with calcite crystals. A bit of Inoceramus sp. shell You can also find traces of the baculites in these formations as well. The climbing was the best part for the kids. Several of the baculite fossils found that day had these large round concretions attached. Our local resident expert indicated that these concretions hid crab predation marks. Large predation entry points created when the crab popped open the shell like a tin can, to feed on the baculites, as they came to rest on the sea floor. The second site was better this year. My daughter was the first to flip what she thought was a stone. Low and behold ! ... a male ammonite fossil. Dad found the female. Lying in a wash, an arroyo, at the second collection location. A few more finds .. nothing to write home about, but they will be great for schools and to give away to those future fossil hunters. Cheers, Brett

Here is another activity going on in the Denver area.... WIPS is the Western Interior Paleontology Society, a group of amateurs and professionals based in Denver. They do a Symposium every other year and this is the first one in a few years due to covid. Mammals is the theme... It is also available on Zoom... virtual attendance... Registration is 120 bucks for the two days, and only 25 for students and educators. There will be a half dozen speakers each day, art exhibits and fossil displays... (including one by my own outfit, the Tate Geological Museum). Here is the link... https://westernpaleo.org/wp/?page_id=928 Hope to see some of you there, esp those in the area of Colorado

It has been some time since I posted anything of note. I'm still adjusting to my new surroundings here in Colorado but I did at least join a local Paleontological Society (WIPS) Western Interior Paleontological Society. My first field trip with the group was out to Baculite Mesa in Pueblo, CO. A location that is famous with a storied history, that is still giving up its ancient treasures. The weather here in Colorado can be touch and go at best, and our trip was almost delayed/cancelled by a late winter storm. This was our neighborhood in Denver the day before the trip. But temperatures rose fairly quickly (?) and the rain/snow abated enough for a window to open into the past. I brought the kids along on this trip. Here are the kids speeding along the ancient ocean bottom, which reverted to 4-6 inches of mud after the rain/snow. It returned to its roots you might say, and in the process my children grew 6 inches that day !! ... until dad had to scrape the sticky mud off of their shoes. 30 minutes later ?? .. yes, they were 6 inches taller once more. Screaming across the muddy ocean bottom. Here is our fearless leader Malcolm Bedell braving the mud and standing in front of one of the many "teepee buttes" that dots the landscape. These ancient methane seeps were built up by small communities of worms, bivalves, gastropods, crabs and the like. Food provided by the methane fixing bacteria at the seeps, and the communities of critters creating these limestone mounds. A closer look at one of these small communities. The baculites (mostly Baculites scotti) can be found eroding out of the shale and concretions that dot the landscape. This is how they typically present themselves at the site. It is rare, but occasionally you can find the Baculites with some of their original nacre still attached. But something to "fix" the nacre to the core is recommended. I think the wet mud helped to preserve this shell until I could return to the car and consolidate it .... the exercise was akin to lifting a shattered pane of glass lying on the ground to safety. Next time something to consolidate the nacre in the field and tin foil would be advised. The second location we moved to in the flats, was cut by many small and large arroyos, and could at times be treacherous for man and beast. This poor cow twisted it's legs on the way down into one of these arroyos (steep-sided gully) and had been lying there in the mud for some time, unable to move. These arroyos cut deeper into the Pierre Shale and most of the fossils here present themselves in hard concretions. I wasn't able to hang around for too long in this location. The cold and mud was too much for the kids and they retreated into the car. Next time I know what to look for and will be better prepared. I know next time will be more successful. Visually I know what I'm after and where to find it. The area is quite literally littered with fossils. I left most where I found them, eroding out of the muddy landscape. Next time I will explore the sides of the arroyo and bring a nice 3lb hand sledge. Here are ammonite bits .. found within eroding concretions. The desert has begun to bloom once again. Cheers, Brett

The 11th annual Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS) Founders Symposium with the theme of Lagerstatten (exceptional preservation) is near. It promises to be a Who's Who of paleo experts presenting over two weekend days. More details can be found here: http://westernpaleo.org/symposiums/2019_pages/about-2019.php SPEAKERS Speakers are coming from across the country to tell us about Lagerstätten — famous deposits known for their exceptionally preserved fossils — from Canada's Burgess Shale to Colorado's own Florissant Formation. Paleontologists scheduled to date are: Derek Briggs (keynote) Yale University Konservat-Lagerstätten — Burgess Shale and beyond William Ausich The Ohio State University Crawfordsville Indiana: Research inspired by a crinoid Lagerstätte Brent Breithaupt BLM-Western Region Robledo Mountain Formation vertebrate and invertebrate trackways (Permian, New Mexico) John Foster Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum Cambrian Soft-body Preservation in the House Range Embayment Succession (Wheeler, Marjum, and Weeks Formations), Millard County, Utah Lance Grande Field Museum of Natural History-Chicago The Lost World of Fossil Lake. Snapshots from Deep Time James Hagadorn Denver Museum of Nature & Science Fossil Jellyfish: The Ultimate in Remarkable Preservation John-Paul Hodnett M-NCPPC Dinosaur Park The Late Pennsylvanian (Missourian) Denizens of Kinney Brick Quarry, a Lagerstätte from the Atrasado Formation in Central New Mexico Sharon Holte The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs Ongoing and New Research at the Mammoth Site — Over 40 Years of Discovery Frank Krell Denver Museum of Nature & Science High Quality Insect Preservation — Fossils in Amber (Baltic, Lebanon, Myanmar) and from the Messel Formation (Eocene, Germany), with emphasis on scarab beetles Martin Lockley University of Colorado-Denver (Emeritus) An Ichnological Konservat-Lagerstätten in the Cretaceous of Korea: The Fruits of an Innovation in Tetrapod Tracks Research John Maisey American Museum of Natural History (Curator Emeritus) The Santana Fossil Assemblages from Brazil Herbert Meyer Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument The Fossils of Florissant Roy Plotnick University of Illinois Mazon Creek:A Pennsylvanian Konservat-Lagerstätte in Illinois James Schiffbauer University of Missouri Through the Taphonomic Lens: Witnessing the Dawn of Animals at the Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition Hans-Peter Schultze Curator Emeritus, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas Solnhofen, a Window into the Jurassic Time Talk titles subject to change