| RANCOCAS NATURE CENTER INVITES FAMILIES TO DIG FOR FOSSILS |
Ready for a summer adventure? Get the family together for a fossil-finding expedition. The New Jersey Audubon Society presents a Fossil-Finding Field Trip on Saturday, July 24, from 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon at Poricy Park in Monmouth County, NJ. Presenter Frank Lenik will guide participants in their search for clams, oyster, squid and shark fossils. The cost for the workshop is $12 per person or $25 per family (NJAS members $8 per person or $16 per family).
“Expect to get wet and muddy and have lots of fun,” says Associate Naturalist Frank Lenik, who is in charge of the trip. Participants will walk in the bed of a flowing stream to find fossils. While a variety of fossils, including those of dinosaurs, have been found in the Poricy Brook Fossil Beds, most are those of shellfish. Poricy Brook is a natural flowing stream that is part of the 250-acre Poricy Park in Monmouth County, which serves as an environmental and cultural education center. For the field trip, remember to wear old sneakers or aqua shoes and have old gloves and a change of clothes and towels on hand. “Once we get into the streams we probably will stay there for a while. When we move from stream to stream we won’t look real neat,” advises Lenik. Other useful items to bring would be sunscreen, bug repellent, a spackle bucket and some newspapers and plastic bags to hold the fossils. People should also bring 1/4-inch mesh screens if they have them.
The program is open to all and not limited to just fossil enthusiasts. According to Lenik, “Fossil study gives us an idea of the change in the Earth’s environment over time, and time in a geologic sense is something we as humans have difficulty grasping.” The Poricy Brook Fossil Beds are well known to fossil collectors in the Northeast, with fossils dating as far back as 145 to 65 million years.
To register, or to find out more about upcoming events or joining the New Jersey Audubon Society, stop by the Rancocas Nature Center at 794 Rancocas Rd., Mt Holly, e-mail rancocas@njaudubon.org, or call (609) 261-2495. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
The Rancocas Nature Center is part
of New Jersey Audubon Society, a privately supported, not-for-profit,
statewide membership organization.
NJAS fosters environmental awareness and a conservation ethic; protects
New Jersey’s birds, animals, and plants, especially endangered
and threatened species; and promotes the preservation of New Jersey’s
valuable natural habitats. Founded in 1897, NJAS is one of the oldest
independent Audubon societies.
For more information on the Rancocas Nature Center
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