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Month: April 2026

Rogers TV coverage of Fossil Fair 2026

You may enjoy this video produced by John MacKenzie of Rogers TV, Victoria. The energy and enthusiasm that Jerri conveys while describing the event and all that the members of VicPS bring to Fossil Fair for the public’s pleasure is wonderful to see and hear. Kudos to all you volunteers!

VicPS field trip: Sunday, April 19, 2026

Our second fieldtrip in April will be this coming Sunday, April 19th to North West Bay just south of Parksville. An email has been sent to all paid members with details of the site that are relevant to fossil hunting.

Victoria members: meet at the Helmcken Park & Ride on the Island Highway at 8:00 AM.

Up Island members: we will rendezvous with you at the Petro Canada located at the corner of North West Bay Rd and the Island Highway by 10:00 AM for a potential beverage and bio break. We will stop in Duncan only if a carpooling meetup is requested there.

For those of you inspired to join us because of this year’s Fossil Fair: if you’ve never been out fossil hunting, please wear clothing and foot wear suitable for a day outdoors, such as if you were hiking. A rock hammer or mason’s hammer, a cold chisel/concrete chisel, leather gloves (not gardening gloves) and safety glasses will be required if you are going to remove fossils from sandstone or shale. Newspaper, masking tape and a marking pen or pencil are handy to wrap up and tag fossils that come apart as you extract them. When you RSVP, if you don’t already have the field trip email, please request the writeup on the site details.

We do have extra hammers and chisels. Annual membership dues are not required on your very first field trip with us.

The beach is suitable for children and those able to walk several kilometers on relatively flat surfaces.

Please RSVP by email to vicpalaeo@gmail.com, indicating where you will rendezvous with the group. Waivers will be signed prior to embarking to comply with insurance requirements.

NOTE:  If you accept a carpooling ride with another member, please contribute your share to the cost of gas with the driver.

VicPS field trip: Sunday, April 12, 2026

Our first fieldtrip in April will be this coming Sunday, April 12th.  An email has been sent to all paid members.

Victoria members: meet at the Helmcken Park & Ride on the Island Highway at 8:00 AM.

Up Island members: we will rendezvous with you at the Northfield Road Tim Hortons by 10 AM for a potential beverage and bio break. We will stop in Duncan only if a carpooling meetup is requested there.

The site we’ll be visiting is suitable for children and those able to walk several kilometers on relatively flat surfaces. 

NOTE:  If you accept a carpooling ride with another member, please contribute your share to the cost of gas with the driver.

Please RSVP by email to vicpalaeo@gmail.com, indicating where you will rendezvous with the group. 

What’s in a Name?

VicPS has officially changed its name from the Victoria Palaeontology Society to the Victoria Peleontological Society. Two things were accomplished with this change: the “dipthong” was removed, and the use of “paleontological” has our name conform to the word usage in the names of our associated regional societies.

Apart from the name change, our mission remains the same:

  • promote an interest in paleontology
  • contribute to education and scientific knowledge in paleontology and other earth sciences
  • collect, preserve, study, and catalogue fossils
  • hold lectures, seminars, and exhibits of fossils

There will be more wording and contact email id changes occuring over time as a result of this change. Meanwhile, the old website URL and contact email ids will continue to work.