A World Record Fossil Perhaps?

On a trip to the classic section of the cliffs today, Tammy, along with our Scientist, Melissa and Director, Jenna, found a stigmaria specimen, which is of notable length. If this stigmaria falls from the cliffs in once piece it will be far superior to every one of our other stigmaria specimens in regard to its length.

Stigmaria are branching tree roots, of coal forest lycopsid trees such as Sigillaria and Lepidodendron. Each trunk tended to have four of those roots and it is amazing to not only see the size of this root, which puts the 30m high trees, which grew here in the sub-tropical forest over 300 million years ago into perspective but also that you can see the rootlets sprouting from it.

The fossil is still very much embedded in the base of the cliff and anyone joining one of our Dawson Tours will be able to view this giant.















Here is Melissa and the giant Stigmaria root found earlier today

Earth Day is here...and so is the rain!

Wow, we planned today down to the very minute details and yet the rain went beyond all of our expectations. The heavens opened just as we opened our doors for the 2009 season. This is the first real rainfall we have had this spring and with it came that beautiful smell of fresh, damp earth, which created a natural undertone to our Earth Day celebrations.

So far we have welcomed over 300 people through our doors today, including 70 students from the River Hebert Elementary School who came to hear Susan Tooke and her fantastic presentation on her book "B is for Bluenose". Susan and the team were in awe of some of the children and their knowledge of the natural world and the children, in turn, were mesmerised by Susan's tales of how she sought inspiration for the book. Susan then went on to sign and dedicate copies of the book, which are on sale at the centre.

Another of the highlights of the morning was the presentation of the Paul Harris Fellowship to both Mr Don Reid and Dr Laing Ferguson by Pam Harrison of Rotary International. Pam, who herself has been bestowed with the Fellowship compared Don and Laing to other Fellows such as JF Kennedy, Bill Gates.

The Fellowship was created in memory of Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, as a way to show appreciation for contributions to the Foundation's charitable and educational program.

We were thrilled when Rhonda Kelly of CREDA presented the Joggins Fossil Institute a magnificent piece designed and created by Nova Scotia Crystal. The piece is a hollow tree, which contains images of ferns and calamites as well as hiding an image of hylonomus at the bottom of the tree stump. This is truly a unique piece, which shall be a most prized possession of the Institute and the Community of Joggins who have volunteered many hours to the advancement of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs as a World Heritage Site.

The rain did not stop the brave few, who despite the elements went into the rain and planted trees, which were kindly donated by J D Irving Ltd. All 2009 trees will be planted to celebrate our 1st anniversary and will be planted throughout the community of Joggins and River Hebert to provide a legacy for the communities, which have supported the Institute this past year.

Thank you to everyone who has been along today and supported us. We will be planting trees all this week so if you want to come along, please do so.

Less than a week to opening and it's great to have the team back...

It was great to welcome back Tammy, Cathy and Elizabeth, who return to us as Interpreters for this season after having a great experience last season. All three are from within a ten minute drive of the Cliffs and have with them a fantastic knowledge of the history of the area.

We will have more of last seasons Interpreters returning at the beginning of May, including Matt, Dylan and Shawn plus some new team members: Caterina, Sara and Elizabeth who are all excited about joining us this season.

We also welcome back Fran, our Catering Supervisor and Joyce our Cook, who will both be ably managing the Roundhouse Cafe again this year and Gornald, our Custodian, who never seems to stop!

We are still on the look out for some team members, why not visit our site to see what positions we have available http://www.jogginsfossilcliffs.net/institute/jobs/

We have spent the last week cleaning and polishing and readying ourselves for opening the doors on Wednesday, 22nd April, Earth Day.

We are thrilled to announce that J D Irving Ltd. has very generously donated saplings, 2009 of them, for us to plant around the grounds on Earth Day, providing a legacy for future generations and helping us to re-naturalise the site.

So, if you are free any time after 9:30am on Wednesday, 22nd April, why not bring your spades, shovels and dibbers and help us to plant our very own forest.

Please come along at 10:30am to witness the presentation of the Paul Harris Fellowship to Mr Don Reid and Dr Laing Ferguson, tow gentlement who have contributed considerably to Joggins and the Rotarian, Pam Harrison shall be presenting the awards on behalf of the Rotary at the Joggins Fossil Centre.

We're also very excited about Susan Tooke launching "B is for Bluenose" on Wednesday as Susan has just been featured on TV after winning two more prizes for her illustrations. You can listen to Susan's presentation on the book at 11:00am and purchase a signed copy of the book, which will no doubt become a family heirloom.

Here's Dylan, showing us that there is always time for a bit of fun!

Some stunning fossils being uncovered by the tides

The Director (Jenna), one of our Interpreters (Tammy) and I (Melanie) took the long walk from Bell's Brook along to Lower Cove and Boss Point today, making the most of the balmy weather and favourable tides.

We were taking stock of the condition of the cliffs after the winter freeze and spring thaw and especially the ferocious tides of the Bay of Fundy and the ice cakes, which batter the cliffs twice a day, every day.

We were awestruck by the amount of newly uncovered fossil specimens, which inlcude fern species, sigilaria and at least ten trees, now uncovered in the cliffs.

It is vital that these fossils remain in place until they can be studied, to ensure that we can learn more about the cliffs through research and recording. We already have the beach monitored by both staff and the community to ensure that illegal fossil collection does not happen (there is a $10,000 fine for anyone found doing so).

Heading over to Boss Point we saw the grindstone quarries and the reefs, whch still hold partially carved grindstones, which never fulfilled their potential in one of the flour mills of North America and even Europe.

It is quite something to walk this length of cliff and to walk back through time. You can clearly see how the geology changes as the cliffs change from grey to brown, then to purple and to yellow.

Walks of this length are offered as our Dawson Tour, which can take upto 4 hours but well worth the time. See our website for further details.

Justin Moll - Joggins Fossil Cliffs Heritage Project

We recently hosted Justin Moll, a young man from the Chester area, who wanted to do his Heritage Fair project on the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.

Justin was helped by our Chief Interpreter, Brian Hebert and our Educational Programmer, Andrew Hanley. Part of the project was to make a movie about the cliffs.

Recently, Justin sent us a copy of his movie and photographs of his project, for which he received the highest mark in his class. It wasn't just Justin's teachers who were impressed with his work, we thought that the work that he put in and the effort that went into both the movie and the finished project was fantastic.

Justin is one of many students who have chosen the cliffs of Joggins on which to base a project or research and we endeavour to support enthusiastic students like Justin in any way we can.

We are proud to present Justin's movie: