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Fossil Fair 2020 latest victim of COVID-19

In keeping with the BC government’s COVID-19 directive of no events in the province with over 250 people, our 24th fossil fair is being cancelled, or possibly postponed, until later notice.   

Swan Lake is in the process of posting notices in the Nature House, and updating their website and Facebook page.  Given the BC government’s province-wide directive, there was really no choice in this matter.  We will try to re-schedule at a later date if the situation changes for the positive.

Nominations for Rene Savenye Award

Perry Poon of the Vancouver Palaeontological Society has asked that consideration be given for presenting the Rene Savenye Award at the July 10-13, 2020, 13th BC Paleontological Symposium at UBC in Vancouver. 

Here are the guidelines, approved by the Board in 2003, outlining the purpose, criteria and process for the Award.  To nominate a person for the award, follow the procedure on the guidelines and send the nomination to Graham Beard no later than March 31, 2020.  This will allow the committee time to review the nominations and, if appropriate, select an award winner.  If an award winner is chosen, the award (usually a big secret) will be announced at the symposium.

Graham Beard of the Vancouver Island Paleontological Museum Society (VIPMS) serves as Chair of the award committee. Graham will establish who is on the award committee.  In the past, the award committee has included some previous award winners, and Jim Haggart has been involved as an advisor due to his past involvement in the award.  The people on the award committee should be perceived as neutral and not as advocates for a particular nominee.

There have been only five previous winners of the Savenye Award – see the BCPA website for details.

BCPA Newsletter: Now Digital Only

BC Palaeontological Alliance newsletter editor Tammy Pigeon tells us we may receive the BCPA newsletter by email in future, but not as hardcopy. You may submit articles for the newsletter directly to Tammy by email. Tammy has been sent the VicPS membership info as at the end of 2019. Please view the graphic below for publishing dates and lead times.

VIPS Thin Section workshop at NIC: January 11, 2020

The Vancouver Island Palaeontological Society are holding the VIPS and North Island College thin section workshop on Saturday, January 11th. This link gives you an idea of the process and tools involved.

Randal Mindell, research scientist and paleo-botanist will lead the thin section workshop. Lucas Evans, the NIC lab technician, will provide the facilities and be our host. The NIC lab will accommodate up to 15 people, so prior registration is advised.

The workshop will start at 10:00 am and go until 3:30 pm with a lunch break. Bring your best fossil wood specimen.

Here is the day’s schedule: 

  1. Randal will do a Power Point presentation covering the general procedure of the thin section process.
  2. You will use the specimen of fossil wood you brought and cut it with the rock saw to create the clean surface for the thin section.
  3. Once the fossil is cut and the new surface exposed, Randal will assist in the preparation and the grinding or polishing process.
  4. Preparation of the thin section with the acetate peel will be completed and ready for viewing under the microscope.
  5. Viewing of the actual fossil wood cells of the should be amazing.
  6. Determining the genus of the fossil wood by review and comparison to the record may be possible.
  • Where: – North Island College- 2300 Ryan Road Courtenay, Raven building, near the front entrance, upstairs in the NIC Lab .
  • When: – 10:00-3:30? Saturday January 11th, 2020 ( Bring a lunch or go to the NIC cafeteria)
  • Workshop Cost: – $20   (all materials supplied)
  • Contact Betty Franklin for registration using cheque or e-transfer at beetlejean@gmail.com

Renewed Your Membership?

All annual memberships expired as of Dec. 31, 2018.  Reminders to renew your membership have been sent every month in the meeting agenda since January 2019.  Many of you have renewed, and thank you. 

Our revised Constitution and by-laws state that a member is not in good standing if the member fails to pay their annual membership dues, and the member’s membership in the society is terminated if the member is not in good standing for 6 consecutive months.  This means that June 30, 2019, is the cut-off date. 

For details on membership renewal, please see our Membership page .

BC Provincial Fossil Voting Results

The provincial government has recently announced the results of the Fall 2018 voting for a provincial fossil.  Of the seven candidates, the Elasmosaur received the most votes at 48%. Legislation must first be passed before the Elasmosaur can officially be designated as the provincial fossil and a provincial symbol of British Columbia.  

The folks at the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaoentology Centre and Vancouver Island Paleontological Society are ecstatic.