Stonerose Interpretive Center and Fossil Site

Infobox Non-profit
Non-profit_name = Stonerose Interpretive Center
and Fossil Site
Non-profit_logo =
Non-profit_type =
founded_date = 1989
founder = Wes Wehr, Burt Chadick, Madeline Perry, Gary Anderson, Richard Slagle, Klifton Frazier
location = Republic, Washington, USA
origins =
key_people = Catherine Brown, Director/Editor
Karl Volkman, Collections Manager
area_served =
focus = Fossils
method =
revenue =
endowment =
num_volunteers =
num_employees =
num_members =
owner = Friends of Stonerose
Non-profit_slogan =
homepage = www.stonerosefossil.org
dissolved =
footnotes =Established in 1989, [cite web |url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7787 |title=Ferry County -- Thumbnail History |accessdate=2008-06-30 |last=Arksey |first=Laura |coauthors= |date=2006-06-01 |work= |publisher=historylink.org] the Stonerose Interpretive Center and Fossil Site is an Eocene Epoch fossil site and accompanying interpretive center, located in Republic, Washington, part of the Okanagan Highland. The fossils are from organisms that lived in the area nearly 50 million years ago when the area that's now the city of Republic was part of an ancient lake. The old lake's bottom layers are now volcanic ash hardened into sedimentary rock, becoming fine-grained tuffaceous shale. The fossils include various, and some extinct, insects, fish, leaves and twigs, as well as bird feathers. [cite web |url=http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/paleontology/stonerose/ |title=Stonerose fossils: Ancestors of today's forests |accessdate=2008-06-24 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=washington.edu] The Republic upland lacustrine fossil beds are significant as they represent the earliest known records of the "Rosaceae" (rose family) and "Aceraceae" (maple family). [cite web |url=http://www.stonerosefossil.org/aboutus.htm |title=About us |accessdate=2008-06-24 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=stonerosefossil.org]

The Boot Hill Fossil Site, located along Knob Hill Road, Ferry County was first discovered in 1977 by artist Wesley Wehr and paleontologist Kirk Johnson. Since then, more than 200 species have been found in fossilized form. [cite web |url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3848 |title=Wehr, Wesley (1929-2004): Preserver of Fossils |accessdate=2008-06-24 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2004-04-19 |work= |publisher=historylink.org] The fossil site is a short walk away from the interpretive center. Public digging is permited with a permit. [cite web |url=http://www.experiencewa.com/v5/poi/poi.aspx?poiId=8839 |title=Boot Hill Fossil Site |accessdate=2008-06-24 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=experiencewa.com] Visitors may retain up to three fossil pieces per person per day, though significant finds must be left at the site. [cite web |url=http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2232/places/40932/ |title=Stonerose Interpretive Center, WA |accessdate=2008-06-30 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=National Scientific Byways Program]

The fossilized "Florissantia quilchenensis", a flower from an extinct cocoa tree and a member of the Malvaceae family, is Stonerose's logo. Found by Lisa Barksdale, former Stonerose curator, and Wehr, at the time a paleobotanist and Burke Museum curator, it was featured in the National Geographic Magazine, July 2002. [cite web |url=http://www.aml.wsu.edu/studentwebsites/benwatson/ferrycounty/tourism.html |title=Excavating Fossils |accessdate=2008-06-24 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=wsu.edu]

Both the interpretive center and fossil site are owned and operated by the Friends of Stonerose Fossils, a non-profit organization.cite web |url=http://www.stonerosefossil.org/membership.htm |title=Membership Information, Friends of Stonerose |accessdate=2008-06-30 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=stonerosefossil.org]

References

Further reading

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