Author Archives: Guypaquin

2023-2024 Meeting Dates

Happy spring to all of you!  I am looking forward to another series of Northwest Paleontology Association gatherings and wanted to let you mark up your calendars.

The Burke has secured our room for the following meeting dates:

2024 (1-3pm)

March 17 Horned Dinosaurs of Canada
May 19 Social meeting at Michael Florentino Cellars

Later dates will be set when The Burke starts scheduling the room farther out…
Enjoy your outdoor time, the rains will come soon enough.
Cheers, Vince Bruscas
NPA President

Upcoming Meetings

The pandemic is not done with us, but we will go back to in person Northwest Paleontological Association meetings if conditions stay stable.

Wow. That feels good to say! Still be prepared to wear masks and follow recommended health directives to keep yourself and the NPA Community safe.

We will be meeting at The Burke Museum. That feels good to say too. Much thanks to Ron Eng and Kelsie Abrams who put in the good word inside the Burke to secure our meeting room. Parking is free on the UW campus on Sunday, and the new Burke has a parking lot (where the old Burke used to be!). Hip Hip Hurray!

Everyone is welcome to attend, new faces and old. All ages too. We have members who are 5 years old and one treasure who is just turning 99 years old. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Mark your calendars for our next three meetings:

January 22, 2023
March 26, 2023 and
May 28, 2023

 

All will be held in the Burke Learning Lab
1pm-3pm

 

Cheers, Tom Wolken
NPA President

Update – June 5, 2022

It has been a strange 2 years, keeping safe by keeping apart. Zoom has been our meeting place and we have enjoyed talks by distant speakers who we would not otherwise have visit us.

If you would like to join the NPA, we will hold meetings in person soon. Check back in or submit your name and contact information to our web message center and we will add you to our contact list!

Cheers,
Tom Wolken
NPA President

*Cancelled* March Meeting – Sunday March 22, 2020

Stay tuned for rescheduling and other club news.

January Meeting – Sunday January 26, 2020

Speaker: Jim Chatters

Since 2011, our own Jim Chatters has been the scientific lead on a most fascinating paleontological project in Mexico.  The site, called Hoyo Negro, is an immense pit in an underwater cave on the Yucatan Peninsula.  40,000 to 10,000 years ago, when much of the world’s water was bound up in glaciers, tunnels leading to Hoyo Negro were dry and the site was a natural trap.  An ephemeral pool in the bottom of the 100-foot deep pit drew at least 14 species of thirsty large mammals, including a human, to their deaths.  Seven of the species are now extinct, including a new form of ground sloth and carnivores never before documented north of Venezuela. The preservation of the bones is phenomenal and the crystal clear water makes for stunning photography. Jim will present the latest and greatest in this NPA Exclusive Update.

Jim Chatters is an archaeologist and paleontologist who owns the consulting firm Applied Paleoscience.  He formerly managed contract paleontological and cultural resources research for the University of Washington, Central Washington University, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Foster Wheeler Environmental, and AMEC. Officially “retired” he is actively involved in research and publishing on the Pacific Northwest and Mexico, and consults to the commercial radiocarbon dating laboratory DirectAMS. In 1996, Chatters recovered, and was the first scientist to study, the PaleoIndian skeleton now known as Kennewick Man.  He is the author of numerous scientific articles and monographs and the public-oriented book Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans (Simon & Schuster, 2001).

South Bellevue Community Center

14509 SE Newport Way
Bellevue, WA 98006

January 26, 2020
1pm-3pm

 

Guests and visitors are always welcome.

November Meeting – Sunday November 24, 2019

Speaker: Wendell Ricketts, Fossil News Magazine, The Journal of Avocational Paleontology

Come here about the joys and challenges of publishing a magazine about fossils. Wendell lives in Ballard, is a translator/writer/editor/publisher, and is interested in invertebrates and microfossils.

Fossil News

Location TBD
November 24, 2019
1pm-3pm

 

Guests and visitors are always welcome.

September Meeting – Sunday September 22, 2019

Was Mammalian Diversity Suppressed During the Age of Dinosaurs?

Our guest speaker will be Dave Grossnickle, who is a post doctoral researcher in Professor Greg Wilson’s UW lab.

About Dave: I received my PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago in 2018, and my dissertation research examined broad macroevolutionary patterns of early mammals. I’ve continued similar work as a postdoctoral researcher in Greg Wilson’s lab at the U. of Washington. I utilize functional morphologies such as tooth shape, jaw shape, and limb proportions to infer the paleo-ecologies of fossil mammals. And from this data I assess the ecological diversity patterns of mammals and test hypotheses on the timing of the mammalian diversification, especially as it relates to the K-Pg mass extinction event.

4120 86th Ave SE | Mercer Island, WA 98040
September 22, 2019
1pm-3pm

 

Guests and visitors are always welcome.

July 2019 Girl Scouts Presentation

The NPA was asked to give a paleontology talk at a Duvall, WA July Girl Scout Camp. We were the anchor of their Dino Day festivities and gave 3 separate presentations to different age groups. They loved Judith!

Presenting: Tom, Graham and Meg.

We enjoyed a lunch of Stone Soup and were paid in Girl Scouts Cookies. It doesn’t get any better than that…

May Meeting – Sunday May 19, 2019

Digging Dinos in Patagonia

Vince Bruscas

NPA’s own Vince Bruscas will fill us in on the Patagonia Expedition he joined in 2018. Perhaps you will be yearning to buy a plane ticket for next year when you see Vince’s photos and hear his description of the logistics of travel, the cultural differences, conditions in the desert, and of course some bit of talk about the dinosaurs they unearthed.

4120 86th Ave SE | Mercer Island, WA 98040
May 19, 2019
1pm-3pm

 

Guests and visitors are always welcome.

March Meeting – Sunday March 24, 2019

Our speaker will be George Last. George will fill us in on the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site project in the Tri-Cities area. Please check out their website and be impressed by their cool Citizen Science organization.

“The Mid-Columbia Basin Old Natural Education Sciences (MCBONES) Research Center Foundation provides local K-12 teachers and their students an opportunity to actively participate in laboratory and field-based research in paleontology, geology, paleoecology, and other natural sciences primarily within the Mid-Columbia Region of southeast Washington State.

The keystone of the foundation’s work is the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site.

The Coyote Canyon mammoth was discovered in November 1999 during excavation and hauling of fine-grained soil for use as topsoil.

In late 2007, the land went up for sale, and the presence of the mammoth was disclosed.

In the spring of 2008, a pedestrian survey and test excavation confirmed the location of the mammoth skeleton, uncovering a number of mammoth-size bones including a humerus and scapula in near articulated position. Excitement grew that this site might offer a unique opportunity for students, teachers, and researchers to investigate well-preserved mammoth sub-fossils in the context of Ice Age flood deposits.

In June 2008, the 27-acre property was purchased by two Tri-Cities brothers (doing business as Horse Heaven Hills LLC) and the site was turned into an educational science-based research facility for students, teachers, scientists and the public.”

4120 86th Ave SE | Mercer Island, WA 98040
March 24, 2019
1pm-3pm

 

Guests and visitors are always welcome.