Jerri Wilkins (VicPS) and Jim Haggart (GSC)
Symposium Overview
The 14th BC Paleontological Alliance Symposium held June 10th to 14th, 2023 welcomed 70 paleontologists and enthusiasts to four days of workshops, tours, oral presentations, posters, fossil displays, and field trips. It attracted speakers and attendees from Ontario, Alberta, Yukon, BC, Washington, Oregon, and New York.
Presentation topics were diverse this year, covering micro to macro topics, vertebrates to invertebrates, Cambrian to Eocene, and from new discoveries to reinterpretations of previously studied material. Response to calls for submissions was robust: in total, 21 submissions were accommodated, including two keynote speeches, 15 oral presentations, and four thoughtful and articulate poster presentations. Four fossil collections were also on display.
The Symposium was hosted by the University of Victoria’s School of Earth & Ocean Sciences at its Bob Wright Centre location. The centre was an ideal venue for two previous symposiums organized by the VicPS (1999 and 2014) and again this year. The VicPS is grateful for this ongoing partnership.
The Symposium was generously sponsored by the Geological Survey of Canada, the BC Heritage Branch, the Royal BC Museum, plus anonymous donations.
This was the first in-person symposium held since the 2020 pandemic and followed the 2021 well-executed virtual conference delivered by the Vancouver Paleontological Society. It began Friday with a pre-symposium day of tours and hands-on workshops beginning at 9am and ending at 5pm. Tours included advanced technology facilities on the University of Victoria campus and the paleontology collections at the Royal BC Museum downtown.
Workshop attendees brushed up on their identification diagnostics for Cretaceous ammonites and plants common to Vancouver Island. Start times for tours and workshops were staggered, enabling participants to enjoy multiple adventures.
A social gathering on Friday evening enabled speakers and attendees to make acquaintances—and in many instances, re-acquaintances. Saturday and Sunday each opened with a land acknowledgement and welcoming remarks. Opening remarks were made by Dan Bowen, Chair of the BCPA and Jerri Wilkins, Chair of the VicPS, who also chaired the symposium organizing committee and fulfilled the role of symposium emcee.
Following opening remarks on Saturday, Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron, Richard M. Ivey curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum gave a riveting keynote speech. On Sunday, Dr. Charles Helm, who is a research associate at the Tumbler Ridge Museum and the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, South Africa, presented that day’s keynote speech.
The Saturday keynote was followed by eight oral presentations and four poster presentations. An additional presentation was delivered during the Saturday evening banquet, and the remaining six presentations took place on Sunday, ending at 2pm. Presentations included an update from the BC Heritage Branch on Fossil Management in BC, and a letter received by Heritage Minister Conroy was shared with the audience.
Saturday evening featured a banquet and recognition awards, and Sunday presentations were followed by a trip to the Royal BC Museum where Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron led a public screening of First Life, which documents the extraordinary Cambrian life revealed in BC’s Burgess Shale through the eyes of Dr. Caron and his research team.
Fieldtrips held on Monday included an interpretation of Carmanah Group strata, led by researcher Marji Johns, Pacific Paleo Quest, to her research sites on beaches near Port Renfrew. A second field trip to collect fossils along the Chemainus River was led by Jerri Wilkins.
Valuable sponsor support for the 14th BC Paleontological Symposium enabled registration fees to remain low, particularly for students, which was a key priority of the organizing committee. These donations, conservative budgeting, a multitude of volunteers, and an overwhelmingly successful silent auction spearheaded by Carol Barbon, secretary of the Victoria Paleontological Society, enabled the 2023 Symposium to net a modest profit. As per tradition, the profit was split between the organizing society and the BCPA.
Three key success factors which guided all aspects of symposium planning were: dynamic and engaging keynote speakers; a diversity of presentation topics; and ample opportunities for interaction. Based on formal feedback and informal accolades, the 2023 organizing committee achieved its objectives.
Keynote Speakers
Shortly after 9am Saturday morning, June 10th Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron approached the stage in Lecture Theatre A104 to deliver the first keynote speech for the 14th BC Paleontological Symposium: The Burgess Shale Fossil Deposit of Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park: Retrospective of the Last 10 Years of Research. The first slides featured breathtaking views from high in the Rocky Mountains of Kootenay National Park.
Dr. Caron provided a visual tour of his fieldwork, discoveries, and insights on Burgess Shale biota and change through space and time in response to ecological, evolutionary, and environmental factors. His presentation outlined 20,000+ specimens collected during 19 expeditions to Marble Canyon and what the 70 identified species revealed about evolution of body plans, growth patterns, limbs, guts, eyes, nerve tissue and proto gills. Dr. Caron took a moment during the presentation to recognize the late Dr. Desmond Collins, retired curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, whose renowned work on the Burgess Shale preceded his own. The landscape slides from the quarries high in the mountains were stunning and the interpretative slides elegantly packaged a colossal amount of information.
Eight presentations followed the keynote speech, and a ninth was delivered at the evening banquet, between dinner and recognition ceremonies. See Symposium Abstract for details.
On Sunday, June 11th at 9am the oral presentations resumed with a keynote speech by Dr. Charles Helm. The audience was offered a second stellar keynote speech.
The presentation, Tracking Vertebrates from Two Eras on Two Continents, led the audience on a journey to the forefront of human ichnology in South Africa, a new line of enquiry emerging from the trackway techniques Dr. Helm developed from studying Cretaceous vertebrate trackways in Northern BC The audience was introduced to stunning photos of South Africa and unpublished research that a few months later would capture international attention and imagination. Following Dr. Helm’s keynote speech, six oral presentations were delivered, ending shortly after 2pm to enable travel time to the Royal BC Museum for a public screening of First Life led by Dr. Caron.
Presentations and Posters
Collectively, this year’s presentations offered a balance of terrestrial and marine topics spanning from the Cambrian to the Eocene, providing something for every interest.
Of note, a quarter of the presentations described material from existing collections (i.e. the Royal BC Museum and the Hudson’s Hope Museum), which have been created by non-professionals. A further quarter mentioned contributions by society members and other paleontology enthusiasts. The value of public support by dedicated enthusiasts was the driver behind recognition awards handed out during the symposium.
Reviewing all presentations and posters through a ‘place-based’ lens, they referenced localities in three separate regions of BC (north, southeast, and Vancouver Island). With a land base of more than 925,000 km2, BC is vast, more than twice the size of the state of California and capable of swallowing the Island of Great Britian four times with land left over. This explains not only the diversity of topics at the 14th BC Paleontological Symposium, but also a theme emerging from the Symposium: the potential to find new specimens and explore new lines of enquiry in BC represents an untapped opportunity.
Below is a synopsis of all 21 presentations and posters delivered in 2023.
Northern BC
The five presentations related to Northern BC were predominantly about Cretaceous dinosaurs. The exception was Brady McBride, University of Victoria, whose poster introduced a new ichthyosaur locality, and the first Rhaetian ichthyosaur material identified from the Pardonet Formation in Northern BC.
Focusing on the Sustut Basin and fieldwork at new sites on the Spatsizi Plateau, Dr. Victoria Arbour, curator of paleontology at the Royal BC Museum, emphasized the potential to study dinosaur diversity dynamics leading up to the K-Pg extinction by comparing specimens from a previously undocumented paleoenvironmental setting (mountain environment) to specimens of similar age from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana (lowland, coastal environment).
The potential for new dinosaurian discoveries in the Wapiti Formation of northern BC was highlighted by two additional presentations (Keynote speech on trackways by Dr. Charles Helm and an overview of recent material from sustained fieldwork in Alberta by Corwin Sullivan, University of Alberta). Sullivan states the formation in BC is less extensively explored than the Wapiti Formation in Alberta.
The fifth presentation related to northern BC and dinosaurs was by Emily Cross, University of Victoria, who identified the first Ankylosaur limb bone material recovered from the Dunvegan Formation near Tumbler Ridge, which was the topic of her presentation.
Southeast BC
Four presentations related to Southeast BC reveal the vast geological timescale preserved in the area.
Keynote speaker Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron spoke about new species and evolutionary evidence from the warm Cambrian oceans documented in the Burgess Shale.
Dr. Chris Barnes, University of Victoria, moved the focus to the late Cambrian-early Ordovician, to show evidence of ocean cooling of 10-120C based on analysis of isotopic and other microfossil data (conodonts and foraminifera).
The late Jurassic-early Cretaceous was the focus of a poster by Logan Teague Dickson, University of Victoria, who traced the provenance of a tridactyl footprint to the Mist Mountain Formation near Fernie, BC.
Finally, Andrea Valcourt, University of Victoria, described Cenozoic material: the first Merycoidondon skull from Canada, and the first Merycoidodon material from the Kishenehn Formation on the Flathead River (which transits the BC/Montana border).
Coastal BC
The coastal Carmanah Group strata were in the spotlight, with three of seven papers focused on this aspect of Vancouver Island paleontology.
An updated interpretation of coastal Carmanah Group strata, based partly on foraminifera isotopic data, was presented by Marji Johns, Pacific Paleo Quest. A companion field guide to interpreting the various ages and paleoenvironments in the strata was distributed to those lucky enough to book space in the fieldtrip she led on Monday.
The Sooke Formation of the Carmanah Group was the focus of a presentation by Elizabeth C. Rohlicek, University of Victoria, who reassessed an assemblage of previously unpublished whale fossils from the Royal BC Museum specimen collection. Her assessment showed that Vancouver Island preserves a rich diversity of early cetaceans. Among the bones was a new record for Platanistoidea in the Oligocene of the North Pacific.
Also related to the Carmanah Group was a poster by Dan Bowen, chair of the BCPA, detailing an adventure to collect a rare chimaeroid fish fossil eroded from the Carmanah Group strata. The specimen was serendipitously discovered on a remote beach by a passing hiker and retrieved by a team of BCPA members working with the BC Heritage Branch, highlighting the value of non-professionals to the field of paleontology.
Further ‘Up Island,’ to use local vernacular, a new Helochelydrid turtle from the Puntledge River was described by Derek Larson, collections manager, Royal BC Museum, as representing some of youngest and last known Helochelydrid known from North America.
Elsewhere on the North Island, a new Solenostelic fern from the Appian Way was demonstrated by Ruth Stockey, Oregon State University, to be quite similar to a species that today lives on banks of swift-flowing rivers in Malasia, Borneo and Sumatra.
Maintaining the flora theme, Gar Rothwell, Oregon State University, delivered his presentation on the first anatomically preserved Selaginellales in the fossil record, based on a Selaginella specimen collected at Apple Bay on Holberg Inlet.
The seventh presentation related to the Island was from Edward Davies, who, during the Saturday evening banquet, invited guests to an assemblage of mammalian bones from the Pleistocene mud of the Saanich Peninsula, discovered during construction excavation earlier in the year. The material shows no evidence of butchering and based on local sedimentation were interpreted to be water-deposited.
To conclude the BC theme, Elisabeth Deom, BC Heritage Branch, provided an update on fossil management in BC and the provincial government’s intentions and efforts to forge relationships with paleontology societies, industry and First Nations. Themes included protecting fossil sites, the heritage value of fossils, industry’s requirements to assess potential impacts, fostering an ethic of stewardship and protection among collectors, and encouraging responsible geological and fossil tourism.
Beyond BC
Amelia Zietlow, American Museum of Natural History, joined virtually to share her news of a possible new transitional species of Mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous of North Dakota, helping to shed light on the muddled macroevolution of mosasaurs, as described in her presentation.
Morocco was the backdrop for the poster by Brennan Martens, University of Alberta, who described the first occurrence of a mosasaurid in North Africa, based on specimens from Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco.
George Mustoe took us to New South Wales, Australia, delivering a paper with a taphonomic twist. Mustoe, a regular contributor to the symposium, identified precipitation as the likely explanation for Neogene-related opal-A forming Cretaceous-age fossils in Australia’s precious opal deposits at Lightning Ridge.
Finally, in a departure from traditional topics, Rebecca Yoshizawa, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, took symposium attendees on a sociological journey to consider concepts of place and time, using the physical displacement of the Burgess Shale through time to explore the changing human concept of ‘place’. In a worldview where a sense of place is at the core of identity, what will it mean as the sense of place is confronted by realities of migration due to political conflict, and climate change.
One submission was unable to be delivered due to extenuating circumstances. It was to focus on insights on fossil data from the largest and longest international earth science collaboration. The abstract was printed, and organizers hope that Andrew Fraass, University of Victoria, or one of his colleagues on the project will consider joining the BCPA at the next symposium in 2025.
Tours and Workshops
An area of interest identified in advance of the symposium was the use of advanced technologies in the field of paleontology. Two such facilities are located in the Bob Wright Centre and one was available for tours: the Advanced Microscopy Facility in the Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technologies (CAMTEC)
At 9am Friday participants assembled in the lobby were met by Elaine Humphrey, the animated, enthusiastic and deeply knowledgeable CAMTEC Lab Manager. Elaine led them downstairs to the subterranean level, down a hall and into a fascinating world of micro- ecosystems where a blade of eel grass displayed on a large monitor showed complex biological interrelationships at the micro-level revealing implications for macro-level environments and inhabitants.
Modern advanced microscopy equipment is designed for speed and ease, and after a few quick instructions participants were excitedly clicking the mouse to reveal the next level of resolution
Sutures, Septas and Siphuncles: Identifying Ammonites with Ease with Dan Bowen
At 10am Friday, Dan Bowen, was in Undergraduate Laboratory C on the main floor unpacked, set up and ready to lead 15 workshop participants into adventures in Sutures, Septas and Siphuncles: Identifying Ammonites with Ease.
Dan’s large, diverse and impressive collection of ammonites remained on display for the duration of the symposium.
The Aura is in the Flora: Identifying Cretaceous Plant Compressions Fossils with Joe Morin
By 115pm the tables in Undergraduate Laboratory C on the main floor of the Bob Wright Centre, the ammonites from the morning’s workshop had been replaced by an impressive collection of Cretaceous flora, carefully laid out by VIPS member and workshop lead Joe Morin who delivered The Aura is in the Flora: Identifying Cretaceous Plant Compressions Fossils.
The second half of Joe’s excellent workshop experienced a setback due to a behind-the-scenes organizational faux pas. Material printed and delivered to Joe just in time for his workshop was missing a key document (Classification of the Architecture of Dicotyledanous Leaves by Leo L. Hickey). It was later discovered that the hard copies had inadvertently been mistaken for discarded material and recycled, prior to delivery. Apologies were made, and an electronic copy was sent to workshop participants after the fact.
RBCM Collections Tour with Derek Larson
At 230pm Friday, as Joe Morin wrapped up his workshop in the Bob Wright Centre, Derek Larson, Paleontology Collections Manager, was eight kilometers away, at the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) preparing to welcome the first 15 of 31 people who signed up to tour the collections. After assembling in the Museum’s bright lobby on Belville Street for introductions, Derek Larson and Calla Scott of the RBCM and graduate students Teague Dickson and Emily Cross, led attendees into the employees-only section of RCBM’s Palaeontology Collection. The tours focused on highlights of the collection, including the Burgess Shale, Pleistocene vertebrates, the Carmanah Group, and the Nanaimo Group, as well as a look into the palaeontological preparation lab. The second tour concluded shortly after 5pm.
Symposium Banquet and Awards Ceremony
During the symposium, attendees took time to show appreciation to peers whose time, effort, and commitment have kept the BPCA and its member organizations active and able to contribute to the science of paleontology in BC. The Symposium Banquet dinner was held in the newly renovated Wilna Thomas building on the campus of Camosun College a 10-minute drive from the University of Victoria. Guests sat at linen-clad tables of eight, placed throughout the spacious room. Rows of tables along two walls were laden with silent auction items, and large monitors at each end of the room enabled photo presentations of the award recipients in action.
At the conclusion of the banquet dinner, tables were cleared, and the awards ceremony began. Three BCPA Service Awards were given to Tom Cockburn, Perry Poon, and Dan Bowen. Each was recognized for their specific contributions, as described below.
Tom Cockburn
Tom Cockburn played a key role in the early development of the BC fossil management framework from within the civil service as a champion for change and helped the BCPA to navigate early growing pains.
In 1997 he was elected to chair of the Victoria Paleontological Society, a position he retained for most years until 2020. His legacy is the Fossil Fair, an annual public display held each March through a relationship established with the Swan Lake & Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary. The hands-on display, which continues to draw a capacity crowd, entered its 24th year in 2022. This was in addition to countless hours presenting to schools and youth organizations.
Meanwhile, Tom carried out primary research including:
- Investigation of the Dashwood age flora and fauna preserved at Cowichan head and at the Dashwood locality contributing to the field trip guide, led by Dr. Richard Hebda, then curator of paleontology at the Royal BC Museum. The Dashwood beds play a key role in unravelling the complex glacial history of our Island.
- The Royal BC Museum (RBCM) Sooke Formation project, started in ~1994, as described in BCPA newsletter 11:7 of Nov. 1995. The volunteer work involved organizing, documenting, labelling, and identifying fossils in the RBCM’s Sooke Formation collections. Tom continued this work to its completion by identifying or confirming identifications of all the Sooke Formation and Carmanah Group invertebrate fossils in the RBCM collections (up until ~2015).
- Produced a comprehensive field guide and led multiple field trips to Muir Creek and other sites to increase understanding about the Sooke Formation and Carmanah Group fossils:
Cockburn, T., Dunlop, S., and Landry, M. 1999. Field Trip Guide to the Tertiary Marine Faunas of the Sooke Formation. Third British Columbia Paleontological Symposium, University of Victoria, BC., May 17, 1999, 30 p.
- Worked with Dr. Brian Beatty and contributed to the publication on the Behemotops specimen found at Sombrio Beach (now in the RBCM collections).
Beatty, B.L. and Cockburn, T.C. 2015. New insights on the most primitive desmostylian from a partial skeleton of Behemotops (Desmotylia, Mammalia) from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Online August 27; 2015.
- Volunteered at the Geological Survey of Canada, Pacific Geoscience Centre (Sidney) where he worked on Carmanah Group (Cameron collection) macrofossil identifications. Later he collaborated with Dr. Jim Haggart (GSC, Vancouver) on Paleogene invertebrate fossil identifications and research at the Appian Way site (Vancouver Island).
- Participated in a Cretaceous and Cenozoic plant fossil identifications and leaf morphotyping workshops which prepared VicPS members to assist with identification of plant fossils in the RBCM and other collections.
- Tom contributed greatly to Nanaimo Group and other fossil identifications and participated in field trips.
His publications include:
Research Papers:
Beatty, B.L. and Cockburn, T.C. 2015. New insights on the most primitive desmostylian from a partial skeleton of Behemotops (Desmotylia, Mammalia) from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. On Line August 27; 2015.
Cockburn, T., Dunlop, S., and Landry, M. 1999. Field Trip Guide to the Tertiary Marine Faunas of the Sooke Formation. Third British Columbia Paleontological Symposium, University of Victoria, BC., May 17, 1999, 30 p.
BCPA Newsletter articles:
Cockburn, T. 1997. Tertiary fossils of Southern Vancouver Island. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 16:9, Sept. 1997.
Cockburn, T. 2000. The Mystery of Mya. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 25:5–8, July 2000.
Cockburn, T., Starr, D., and Haggart, J. 2001. Whiteaves’ Missing Plate. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 27:9–11, Feb. 2001.
Cockburn, T. 2002. Fossils Close to Home. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 30:5, Feb. 2002.
Cockburn, T. 2011.Washington State coal mine clams. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 55:14–16, June 2011.
BCPA Newsletter news:
Cockburn, T. 1997. VicPS News. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 16:10, Sept. 1997.
Cockburn, T. 1998. Fossil Fair and VicPS News. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 17:16, Jan. 1998.
Cockburn, T. 1998. VicPs Update. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 18:21, Mar. 1998.
Cockburn, T , and Henrich, T. 1998. VicPS Update. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 19:17, Aug. 1998.
Cockburn, T. 1998. VicPS Update, British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 20:20, Nov. 1998.
Cockburn, T. 2000. VicPS News. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 24:12, Mar. 2000.
Cockburn, T. 2001, Book Review – “Oregon Fossils”. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 27:19, Feb. 2001.
Cockburn, T. and Bullard, T. 2009. Victoria Palaeontology Society. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 50:18–20, Jan. 2009, Special Edition.
Johns, M. and Cockburn, T. 2011. Ken O’Neill: December 2, 2017-August 4, 2010. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 55:11–13, June 2011.
Cockburn, T. 2011. Rene Savenye Award presented to Charles Helm. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 56: 24–25,Dec. 2011.
Haggart, J., Danner, T., and Cockburn, T. 2012. Time for a Provincial Fossil for British Columbia. British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Newsletter, 57:7–12, March, 2012.
Tom was unable to attend the Symposium Dinner and was presented with his award the following morning during opening remarks on day two of the symposium.
Perry Poon
For several decades, Perry Poon has served as an active member of the Vancouver Paleontology Society, and most recently as its chair. He has led numerous society field trips to many mainland localities, including the Olympic Peninsula, the Bellingham and Mt. Baker areas, numerous localities in the Vancouver area, and to the British Columbia Interior and Chilcotin regions. Before COVID, Perry was faced with dwindling membership in the VanPS, and with loss of meeting space at the University of BC. Tackling this challenge head on, Perry worked to secure meeting sites around the Lower Mainland so that members could continue to get together in person. For a year or two, meetings were seemingly held in a different library or community centre each month! When COVID hit, Perry single-handedly kept the Vancouver society going by organizing virtual meetings for the society and tirelessly finding speakers to present at the meetings. When ‘visiting’ speakers were unavailable—and this was often!—Perry would give the presentation himself, highlighting many of the better fossil field trips and localities that the society has visited over the years.
Perry’s unflagging efforts to find changing meeting venues and relevant speakers for the society kept members motivated and their interests impassioned. Since COVID, similar difficulties have ensued, but Perry has persevered, continuing to work hard on behalf of the society, and for the first time in two decades, membership has been increasing appreciably.
For these reasons, Perry Poon strongly deserves to receive the BCPA Service Award.
Perry was unable to attend the presentation of his award from Jim Haggart in person, but John Fam accepted the award on his behalf and linked Perry in via cell phone to say a few words.
Dan Bowen
Numerous persons have represented the BCPA over the years, but perhaps none is more widely considered as the “Face of the BCPA” than Dan Bowen. Dan was one of the founding members of the Vancouver Island Paleontological Society (VIPS) and has served on its board ever since. He also served many years as a societal representative for the VIPS to the BCPA Board. As a VIPS Board member, Dan has organized countless field trips for the VIPS and the broader BCPA, including trips to Haida Gwaii, the Chilcotin, Horsefly and the Interior, and to numerous Vancouver Island localities.
As a fossil hunter, he has generously donated important specimens to science so they can be shared more widely, and he has also worked with other citizen scientists to donate their materials as well. Dan has served on the Organizing Committee of each of the BCPA symposia which have been held in Courtenay/Comox, including the very first symposium, and including organizing field trips for the symposia.
For several years now, Dan has served as the Chair of the BCPA. In this role, Dan has worked tirelessly to finally implement the BC Provincial Fossil, culminating several decades of discussions and negotiations between the BCPA and the provincial government to establish one. He has also provided significant advice to the provincial government on recent developments, changes, and advances in the BC Fossil Management Framework. The science of paleontology has kept Dan young, as he is still a keen collector well into his 70s!
Few persons have contributed more to the BCPA, and for so long, than has Dan and for this reason he truly merits receiving the BCPA Service Award.
Dan did not know beforehand that he was receiving the award, so it was quite a surprise when Jim Haggart announced that he was a recipient!
Fieldtrips
Collision Zone
Monday, June 12th dawned clear and sunny with a slight breeze, perfect fieldtrip weather. With lunches, snacks, water and supplies stowed, Marji Johns, Elisabeth Deom and 11 attendees departed from UVIC at 730am. Their first destination on this 14-hour roundtrip adventure to the Carmanah Group strata was Jordan River Campground for an overview of the geology of the area. The convoy of vehicles reached Botanical Beach Provincial Park at around 10am and everyone assembled in the parking lot for a briefing by Marji before hitting the trail leading to the beach.
After a short stop to look at the basement rock of the Pacific Rim terrane, participants explored the beach and benefitted from the diverse knowledge and expertise within the group.
Significant fossil discoveries were made: a large coral slab was discovered at the site and according to Marji, it potentially indicates warm water conditions at the late Eocene/early Oligocene boundary.
Bored wood was also found in a concretion, as well as multiple worm burrowed trace fossils infilled with schist material.
Marji pointed out that any macrofossils discovered at Botanical Beach are significant because they are rare or sparse, undocumented, and provide valuable information about geology in the region.
Chemainus River
Also on Monday, with hand tools and field guides in hand, the group assembled in the parking lot of the Bob Wright Centre for quick directions and the convoy set off toward Highway 1 over the Malahat Mountain toward Chemainus. Upon arriving at the entrance to the fire road nearest the destination, receiving a bagged lunch, and hiking 15 minutes, they arrived at the high, gray shale cliffs near Bannon Creek Falls.
This section of the Chemainus River exposes the fossiliferous concretionary mudstones and siltstones of the Haslam Formation. Evidence provided by foraminifera, trace fossils, and macrofossils suggests deposition of these sediments took place in marine outer shelf and upper slope environments during late Santonian to early Campanian time.
After a quick huddle on the beach to point out the various fossiliferous areas, Jerri Wilkins led the group upriver along the near bank to the ‘ammonite zone’.
The hike along the water’s edge required a bit of bushwacking, traversing uneven ground, and navigating slippery river rocks. In 20 minutes, the fast hikers had reached the slightly inclined cliff face and were searching the scree and cliffs for fossils. The water level was below the 1-metre mark, and it was easy to avoid wet feet, but the warmth of the fine June day with sun beaming into the canyon lured a few into the water for relief.
Most participants found something. Most of the specimens were found eroding from the cliff. A few were in situ and inside concretions.
Common finds were bivalves (Inocerids and Sphenoceramids), a variety of segments of heteromorph and planispiral ammonites, and concretions containing remains of ghost shrimp Calliax whiteavesi (formerly Callianassa whiteavesii). A first-time fieldtrip participant was excited to find a piece of lobster carapace (Linuparis vancouverensis), and gastropod finds included spines of Tessarolax bullardi, a spiny snail named after Timon Bullard, a past member of the Victoria Palaeontology Society. The most uncommon, specimen found was a very detailed scallop impression the size of a fingernail.
Around 2pm the group started back downriver to the main beach and by 3pm the convoy of cars was enroute back to Victoria. Later that evening, when participants from the fieldtrip to coastal beaches arrived back in Victoria, the 14th BC Paleontological Symposium finally concluded.
Planning, Feedback, and Acknowledgments
Positive feedback from this first in-person symposium held since the COVID-19 pandemic speaks to the value of the 13-member organizing committee, a long planning runway, and the host of volunteers at each stage of planning.
The committee included broad representation from BCPA members to capitalize on the vast experience and expertise developed from previous symposiums, and held its first meeting in July of 2022, 11 months in advance of the event.
After much discussion, the committee defined three key success factors for the symposium: dynamic and engaging keynote speakers; a diversity of presentation topics; and ample opportunities for interactions. These success factors guided all aspects of symposium planning. Other symposium priorities included keeping costs low (especially for students), flexibility as the plan morphed, and mutual support within the committee. An early decision was made to not host a hybrid event—avoiding complications of real-time broadcasting in favour of an in-person experience.
The first task was to set a date and venue, then develop a month-by-month project plan and a budget forecast and reach out early to potential sponsors. A longstanding relationship with the SEOS was reinitiated and the Bob Wright Centre was confirmed and formally booked as the main venue for 2023. The Bob Wright Centre, with its large lobby and nearby classrooms and labs, is an ideal venue, enabling lunches and breaks to be held in proximity to posters and displays, encouraging interaction and dialogue.
Venues, sponsorship, logo, and call for abstracts were first priorities, followed by circulars, coordinating workshops and tours, registration processes and food service. Leads were appointed for each activity from among organizing committee members, who remained in constant communication as processes to track and confirm the many details were developed as needed.
A few unexpected challenges arose as planning progressed. The first and greatest was food service. Due diligence did not bring to light the large sporting event taking place on campus the same weekend, affecting access to accommodations and food services. Six weeks prior to the symposium, on-campus catering advised that its capacity to serve the symposium was in question. No alternative catering services were available. In the end, Victoria’s local Red Barn Market came to the rescue, preparing trays of sandwiches and desserts. Volunteers stepped forward during the symposium to transport the food to the Bob Wright Centre lobby and set it up.
In parallel with the food service debacle, Andy Fraass, UVic’s contribution to the organizing committee, took an unscheduled leave of absence. As key liaison for logistics at UVic, it left a considerable, temporary gap. Andy’s colleagues in the SEOS office stepped in and with great patience and finesse helped to navigate internal processes. Much gratitude was extended to administrators CJ Smith and Kay del Sol for their work ethic and support.
A week prior to the symposium, reports surfaced of a planned power outage at the Bob Wright Centre on Symposium opening day. This resulted in 24-hours of frantic activity to escalate the issue, while simultaneously working to secure an alternate venue. The outage was later discovered to be a miscommunication.
The fourth hiccup related to fieldtrip transportation. Two days prior to fieldtrips, buses booked for the purpose were uninsurable due to the destinations, and qualified drivers were unavailable. When the dilemma was explained, fieldtrip participants stepped forward offering ridesharing.
Misplaced workshop materials, and typos in more than one Symposium poster, rounded out the unfortunate and embarrassing glitches.
In the end, the quality of tours, workshops and speakers rendered the challenges practically unnoticeable to most attendees, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
All plans, spreadsheets, templates and experiences will be available to organizers of the 2025 symposium to continue this event in support of the science of paleontology in BC.
Organizing Committee
Carol Barbon – lead, silent auction.
Chris Barnes – advisor. Scientific community and sponsorships insight.
Justin Bauer – abstracts creator (design & layout)
Tom Cockburn – advisor. Lessons learned as committee chair for the 19th Symposium.
Elisabeth Deom – lead, keynote speakers & venues. Keynote speaker outreach, venue and hospitality coordination, Botanical Beach fieldtrip coordinator.
Andy Fraass – liaison, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. On-site tours and facility logistics.
Derek Larson – lead, presentations & posters. Submissions coordinator, abstracts editor, and lead for Palaeontology Collections Tour, Royal BC Museum.
Scott MacPhail – committee treasurer. Attendance tracking (across multiple events), expenditure tracking and invoice payment, symposium account reconciliation.
Sandy McLachlan – logo designer, in collaboration with Fran Benton.
Jerri Wilkins – committee chair. Project planner and financial forecaster, implementation coordination, communications lead and sponsorship outreach.
Dan Bowen – advisor. Past chair of previous symposium committees, and BCPA representative.
Perry Poon – advisor. Chair of 2021 Symposium Committee, VanPS representative.
John Fam – advisor. Member of the 2021 Symposium Committee.