DINOSAUR DISCOVERY IN TUMBLER RIDGE

Today is the First Annual Peace Region Palaeontology Symposium in Tumbler Ridge, an an important milestone for Tumbler Ridge and the Peace Region. Daniel Helm's find of dinosaur tracks along a river near the town of Tumbler Ridge sparked a new paleo craze in the town. I met with Daniel and Charles Helm back in 2005 at the British Columbia Paleontological Symposium. The photo above is from their original workshop that has now blossomed into a fully operation paleontological centre.

Congrats to the Peace Region Palaeontological Society! I'm sure this symposium marks the first of many great educational events.

GODS & CEPHALOPODS

A great temple to the god Amon was built at Karnak in Upper Egypt around c. 1785. It is from Amon that we get his cephalopod namesake, the ammonites and also the name origin for the compound ammonia or NH3.

Ammonites were a group of hugely successful complex molluscs that looked like the still extant Nautilus, a coiled shellfish that lives off the southern coast of Asia. While the Nautilus lived on, ammonites graced our waters from around 400 million years ago until the end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago.

Varying in size from millimeters to meters across, ammonites are prized as both works of art and index fossils, geological time markers, helping us date rock. They have proven especially useful for proving time markers for the strata of the Cretaceous System along the west coast of North America.

The ammonites with their hard exoskeleton, chambers and soft interior, were kissing cousins in the Class Cephalopoda, meaning "head-footed," closely related to modern squid, cuttlefish and octopus. Cephalopods have a complex eye structure and were excellent swimmers. Ammonites used these evolutionary benefits to their advantage, making them one of the most successful marine predators of ancient Cretaceous seas.

MUSEO DI STORIA NATURALE DI FIRENZE

MISTY EVENING: BOWRON LAKES

TASEKO LAKE FOSSILS

PADDLING WIDGEON ESTUARY

Interested in getting out on the water? Head out for a relaxing day paddle or overnight to Widgeon Estuary. The paddling is easy. You can do the trip via kayak or canoe and can stay for the night or do it as a day trip. I like to to camp near the base of the trail to the falls.

There is nothing better than to cruise flat water with rippling reflections of big snowy mountains cascading off your bow. The estuary of Widgeon Creek at the south end of Pitt Lake at Grant Narrows is the perfect place to enjoy this sensation.

If you like quiet peaceful waterways teaming with bird life this is the place to go for the whole estuary is a protected bird sanctuary. After making the 300m crossing of Grant Narrows, expect to see tons of waterfowl and other species from herons to harlequins that make this area their habitat. You might even see a fleeting glimpse of muskrat or beaver if you are lucky.

If Widgeon Creek is high in the spring or early summer you can paddle quite a distance up under lazy overhanging branches draped in moss and lichen. Huge lush ferns and skunk cabbage line the shoreline in the marshy areas and neat little gravel bars are gathered in the bends of the creek. When you are there you will be amazed that you can be so close to the city yet so far away.

A campsite is located near the west end of the estuary if you want to stay longer. This is probably best to do in the shoulder season when it isn't so busy. If the water is high more secluded sites are located up the river.

EIGHTH BC PALEONTOLOGICAL SYMPOSIUM

KWAK'WAKA'WAKW MATRILINE AND PATRILINE

The Kwakwaka’wakw are characterized by a particular iconographic promiscuity, a tendency to mobilize a diverse set of visual, material, or performative signs that index their individual standings. There may be various explanations for this. 

The Kwakwaka’wakw are geographically and culturally at the point on the central coast where the strictly matrilineal groups of the north (e.g., Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian) give way to more patrilineal and less clan/crest-based patterns of descent in the south (Nuu-Chah-Nulth and Coast Salish), and they have long been known as the grand synthesizers of the region. 

Bilateral reckoning of Kwakwaka’wakw descent entails the claiming of crest images and personal prerogatives from both the matriline and patriline, increasing the number of images an individual might legitimately display. 

They developed and maintained through the assimilationist period the most elaborate system of restricted ceremonial performance of the famous ‘‘secret’’ or ‘‘dance’’ societies described by Franz Boas (1897) and Philip Drucker (1940) which is predicated on rather flexible and negotiated hereditary rights to (often multiple) ritual dramas and the accompanying regalia (see Roth 2002:144). 

The Kwakwaka’wakw have long proved remarkably amenable to participating in their own ethnographic representation, from adapting their visual motifs and performances to intercultural contexts of display, to applying the technologies and institutions of modernity to their own modes of cultural production (Glass 2004, 2006)

AMMONITE COQUINA

CASTLE PEAK: CANADIAN ROCKIES

PALEO FIELD TRIP :: TASEKO LAKES

GOAT: CAPRA AEGAGRUS HIRCUS

 

ALBERTASAURUS

PAIX ET TRANQUILITÉ

SOLAR PERFECTION: ENGLISH BAY

MISTER KANE

MISTER KANE

FOSSIL FIELD TRIP BASE CAMP

INSIGHT: ICE CORE LOOKING GLASS

Evidence from the past provides a window into the Earth's future. A sediment core from 400m below the seabed of the Arctic Ocean showed that Fifty-five million years ago, deep in the Eocene, the North Pole was ice-free and enjoying tropical temperatures. It also tells us that the temperature of the ocean was 20C, instead of the coolish –1.5C we see today… a truth that is hard to imagine with all the press surrounding global warming.

The bottom end of that core helped explain the fossils found at Eocene sites around British Columbia, species commonly seen in more tropical environments today. The warmer temperatures seen at McAbee and around the globe were recorded in the core sample and reveal evidence for a global event known at the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Back in the Eocene, a gigantic emission of greenhouse gases was released into the atmosphere and the global temperature warmed by about 5C.

While the bookends of the geologic time scale slide back and forth a wee bit, the current experts in the geologic community set the limits to be 33.9 +_ 0.1 to 55.8 +_ 0.2 million years ago. The fossil record tells us that this part of British Columbia and much of the Earth was significantly warmer around that time, so warm in fact that we find temperate and tropical plant fossils in areas that now sport plants that prefer much colder climes, or as is the case in the Arctic, snow and ice.

The Okanagan Highlands is an area centred in the Interior of British Columbia, but the term is used in a slightly misleading fashion to describe an arc of Eocene lakebed sites that extend from Smithers in the north, down to the fossil site of Republic Washington. The grouping includes the fossil sites of Driftwood Canyon, Quilchena, Allenby, Tranquille, McAbee, Princeton and Republic. These fossil sites range in time from Early to Middle Eocene, and the fossil they contain give us a snapshot of what was happening in this part of the world because of the varied plant fossils they contain..

While the area around the Interior of British Columbia was affected. McAbee was not as warm as some of the other Middle Eocene sites, a fact inferred by what we see and what is conspicuously missing.

The plant species suggest that McAbee had a more temperate climate, slightly cooler and wetter than other Eocene sites to the south at Princeton, British Columbia and Republic and Chuckanut, Washington. Missing are the tropical Sabal (palm), seen at Princeton and the impressive Ensete (banana) and Zamiaceae (cycad) found at Republic and Chuckanut, Washington.

While we are the likely culprits of much of the warming of the Arctic today, the sediments of McAbee tell us that natural processes operating in the not too distant past have also resulted in significant temperature fluxuations on a world-wide scale.

"LOOK, LOOK, LOOK" A DAY AT THE ZOO

If you are feeling a bit hemmed in from all the cold weather, bundle up and take a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium, Science World or your local museum.

There is nothing more exciting than witnessing the awe on a child's face as they begin to explore the natural world.

If you've got a thing for fossils, remember to check out the ancient critters as well. The Royal BC Museum, Qualicum Beach Museum an Courtenay Museum all have permanent fossil displays. If you are in Vancouver, head on down to Science World to see their T-Rex. There re also many fossil exhibits planned at the new Beatty Biodiversity Museum openig later this year at UBC.

SAINT-RÉMY-DE-PROVENCE

HORNBY ISLAND EASTER EGG HUNT

CIEL

JOHN LEAHY COLLECTION

THE BEST OF SOOKE: TY COLLWYN RETREAT

Heading to Victoria for a jaunt or to the village of Sooke for a bit of fossil collecting?

Ty Collwyn Waterfront Retreat offers private, oceanfront, two bedroom cottages within walking distance from the heart of Sooke, on Vancouver Island. We are located just forty minutes west of Victoria; the capital city of British Columbia, Canada.
Our two cottages share wonderful ocean views of Sooke Harbour and the Juan de Fuca Strait; each with it's own deck and hot tub to soak away stress.

The grounds include a heated indoor pool, coin-operated laundry facilities, private dock, and waterfront with a fire pit, all surrounded by lush trees and an acre of grass area.

When you are not relaxing and enjoying your oceanfront view, take advantage of all that Sooke has to offer. Enjoy a scenic drive to our beautiful West Coast beaches, visit the Sooke Potholes, catch a wave surfing, go ocean kayaking, try a fishing charter, check out the Sooke Museum, walk along the wonderful Whiffin Spit, or travel any of the region's hiking trails on foot, rollerblade, or bicycle. There is so much to do!

Later, you can dine at the world renowned Sooke Harbour House Restaurant, famous Mom's Café, or create your own barbeque feast right on your deck.

BLUE PLANET | EARTH DAY 2010

Earth / Adopt Me

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment.

Earth Day has the power to bring about historic advances in climate policy, renewable energy and green jobs and catalyze millions who make personal commitments to sustainability - a billion acts of green – mobilizing the power of people to create change by taking small steps in our homes, our schools and our communities that add up to an enormous collective action. I'm making plans to better my neighborhood and my world. I'm raising seedlings to share the gift of life and a cleaner atmosphere. With every obstacle comes opportunity and right now, right here there is an unprecedented opportunity to build a new future.

Choose how you'll celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 2010.
www.earthday.net/earthday2010

ALCES ALCES: MOOSE

The moose is the largest member of the deer family. The genus and species of the moose are Alces alces.

Moose are found in northern forests in North America, Europe, and Russia. In Europe and Asia, moose are called elk. Moose are solitary animals who have a deep call and a strong scent.

They have a life span of about 17 years in the wild. If you ever have the pleasure of paddling the Bowron Lake Circuit, there are many great viewing spots which provide excellent photo ops for Moose.

Anatomy: The moose is about 7.5 feet (2.3 m) tall at the shoulder. Only the male moose, bulls, have antlers. The largest recorded antler spread is over 6.5 ft (2 m). The antlers are shed each year and regrow. Moose have hoofed feet, long legs, thick brown fur, a large body, and a droopy nose, and a dewlap (a flap of skin hanging loosely from the chin).

Behavior: The moose is an herbivore (a plant-eater) who spends most of the day eating. Moose prefer willow, birch, and aspen twigs, horsetail, sedges, roots, pond weeds, and grasses. They are excellent swimmers, strong runners and can turn on a dime. I've seen a Moose outrun a grizzly up near Barkerville on the Bowron Lake circuit.

Predators: The grizzly bear and man are the main predators of the moose.

Source: Enchanted Learning

AURORA BOREALIS

TIME FOR LUNCH

Tormented cries from mother as her cub is butchered and eaten...

Does it pull at your heart strings? Mine, too.

A rally of cries about a shark attack generally bring something less warm and fuzzy, something closer to terror and visions of a nasty end for some surfer. No surfer this time.

The 20th Century's most significant marine find became surf and turf himself at a recent feast in a village off the coast of Donsol in the Bicol Region of the Philippines.

More than a rare sighting, this is the 41st specimen ever known. A massive Megamouth, a rare breed of filter-feeding shark, was caught and killed then served up to locals eager to consume the traditional delicacy despite protests from the World Wildlife Federation.

While WWF tried to convey the magnitude of the slaying the world has to wonder if more should have been done. This was more than a rare sighting, this specimen was the 41st ever recorded of Megachasma pelagios.

Panda! Not this time. It was a deliverate ploy to get you to ponder your feelings on slugs vs. bunnies. If it is what enticed you to take a peek, however, perhaps we need to rethink our treatment of the ugly ducklings out there.

We tend to favour cute and cuddly. Dark grey, menacing distant cousins of Jaws don't bring out the maternal instinct quite as readily. Had this been a sighting of a rare panda set to be slaughtered to make soup with his paws, I'm sure Megamouth would have made both CNN and the BBC.

Might isn't right, but something more than sway was needed here.