White Mountain Dinosaur Exploration Center Activities Summer 2016
Hazel Wolfe & Judy Evans spent the day sharing different kinds of fossils and how they are formed with classes and the community of the Whiteriver Nation on April 29, 2016.
Intern Ben Mohler, spent over 350 hours this summer assisting at the Center, at community events and in the field. Ben will be returning for field work in October and will be attending the International Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Conference with WMDEC at the end of October in Salt Lake City.
Crew members of the Southwest Paleontological Society from the Arizona Natural History Museum joined WMDEC for an expedition to work on the Zuni Basin fauna.
University of North Carolina has partnered with WMDEC to conduct research in the Zuni Basin. Dr. Lindsay Zanno and her crew are recovering a turtle discovered by Southwest Paleontological Society member Sherman Mohler. Lindsay blogs here about her research.
Cooking together and replenishing ourselves after a long day. Sharing stories around the campfire and star gazing rounds out the day nicely.
Oaklhoma Natural History Museum
Dr. Rich Cifelli collecting micro samples for further analysis at the lab. We are thrilled to be working with Rich to look for the small animals from the middle Cretaceous.
This beautiful Tenontosaurus half plaque was donated by Oaklhoma Natural History Museum, one of our new partners.
Oaklhoma Natural History Museum donated these beautiful casts to WMDEC, representing animals from 110 mya. These casts provide important comparative specimens to WMDEC exhibits.
Douglas Wolfe & Dr. Andrew McDonald are partners on the research in the 80mya Menefee Formation. Dr. McDonald began research with Douglas Wolfe as a 15 year old on the Zuni Basin Paleontological Project.
Intern Ben Mohler viewing excavation site of a partial skeleton from 80my old rocks. Many excellent discoveries were made and lots of bone in the rock waiting for next field season!
Small town parades are the best! Springerville/Eagar has less than 5,000 population, but on July 4th town can swell to over 30,000 as everyone comes home for this annual event along with one of the longest running real cowboy rodeo's in AZ.
Our float won first place for community organizations. It was undoubtedly due to this amazing knit flag lent to us by Anita Dugat-Greene.
July 23, 2016 the Round Valley Cub Scouts joined us for a geotour exploring the ancient oceans and swamps from 90mya.
Intern Narayana Shippee in the field looking for new Triassic outcrops. Narayana works at the Center 12 hours a month throughout the year.
WMDEC had a booth and various children's activities at Greer Cafe for the weekend.
Intern Kara Kelley worked over 150 hours this summer in the field, at the Center and at community events. Kara will be returning for field work in October and will be attending the International Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Conference with WMDEC at the end of October in Salt Lake City.
Intern Kara Kelley seeking new Triassic localities.
WMDEC is working with White Mountain Nature Center to provide educational lectures and activities for the community throughout the year. This event was Sept 3, 2016.