Nevada Friends of Paleo now on YouTube!

    NFOP member, Bob Clark, has posted his 2nd, very well-produced video clip of the Nevada Friends of Paleontology on YouTube.  Bob's first production captures our April 2007 meeting where Josh Bonde gave a  lecture about the first dinosaurs reported from Nevada.  This video clip can be accessed by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jc9EkSjLk8, or simply by searching Nevada Dinosaurs on the YouTube page.  His second production covers our trilobite collection field trip in April 2008 as well as a brief overview of all we've accomplished in the last year.  This clip can be accessed by the following link or searching Nevada Trilobites, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQGf0i2Zt80.  Bob's done an incredible service to our group, so please go check it out and then contact him with your comments, bcp@cox.net. 

August 30, 2009 - Hagerman Fossil Beds Talk by Vicki Meyers/Business Meeting

     Vicki Meyers, M.S. student at UNLV, will be talking to the group about her summer internship at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.  Hagerman is located in south central Idaho, approx. two hours north of the Nevada border, and records over 220 species of Pliocene (3-4 million years ago) flora and fauna. 

    We will also hold a business meeting and elections prior to Vicki's talk.  Below are a list of current officers:

President - Aubrey Shirk
Vice President - Josh Bonde
Secretary - Judy Costa
Treasurer - Steve Rowland

     Please contact current president, Aubrey Shirk, shirka2@unlv.nevada.edu or nevadafriendsofpaleo@gmail.com immediately with nominations for new officer positions.

     We will meet Sunday, August 30 @ 1pm. on UNLV campus in the Lilly Fong Geoscience Building (LFG, next to the library) room 105.  Parking is not enforced on weekends so there is plenty of parking immediately next to the building. 

     Finally, membership dues are due for August 2009 - July 2010! Forms are available as a link off the home page.

September 27, 2009 - Valley of Fire State Park

     Once again, NFOP will return to the Valley of Fire State Park!  This time we will be collecting multiple forms of fossil plants preserved in a soft, volcanic ash.  These plants are approx. 100 million years old (Early Cretaceous) and will shed light on the ecology of the landscape during that time period. 

     We will be discussing the possibility of camping in the Valley of Fire at the August 30th meeting, decisions will be posted.  Please bring plenty of water, lunch, trowel, superglue, paint brush, whisk broom, awl,  gardening pad, and any other device that will make collecting comfortable! 

October 25, 2009 - TBA

November 22, 2009 - Eagle-Picher Diatomite Mine, Hazen NV
    Eagle-Picher is an active quarry between Fallon and Fernley, Nevada.  The diatomite mined there is the fossil remains of silicious algae from a freshwater lake that covered that area during the Miocene (~10 million years ago).  It is soft, chalky and fossiliferous, containing stickleback and killifish forms of fish, with a rare occurence of a snake. 

      We will likely camp in Fallon on Saturday, November 21 and spend Sunday morning and early afternoon searching for fossils.  The later afternoon will be left open for travel home.  However, this is tentative and subject to change, more information will be posted closer to the activity.

December 13, 2009 - Holiday Party

Spring - Summer 2010 - TBA

     Options are being discussed for Spring 2010.  Please contact us if you have suggestions for activities.  The following are links for 2 separate quarries, however both are located very far from Las Vegas and, therefore, have accompanied expenses.  If there is interest enough, these would take more planning to arrange; http://www.royalpeacock.com/mineinfo1.htm & http://www.u-digfossils.com/.

If there are any questions, please contact one of the officers.

Any related events that you'd like to share with the group??  Just contact us!