Named after | Rose family fossils found at the site [1] |
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Founded | 1989 |
Founder | Wes Wehr, Bert Chadick, Madeline Perry, Gary Anderson, Richard Slagle, Klifton Frazier [2] |
Legal status | 501c(3) |
Focus | Eocene fossils of Northern Ferry County |
Location |
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Coordinates | 48°38′52″N118°44′22″W / 48.64778°N 118.73944°W |
Key people | Solea Kabakov, Director Travis Wellman, Operations Manager |
Parent organization | Friends of Stonerose Fossils |
Employees | 3 |
Website | https://stonerosefossil.org/ |
The Stonerose Interpretive center & Eocene Fossil Site is a 501c(3) non-profit public museum and fossil dig located in Republic, Washington. The center was established in 1989 and houses fossils that have been featured in National Geographic Magazine , Sunset magazine , and numerous scientific works.
The original fossil site, located along Highway 20 in Republic Ferry County, was first discovered in 1977 by artist Wesley "Wes" Wehr and paleontologist Kirk Johnson, than a high school student from Seattle. The idea for the Stonerose Interpretive Center was the result of conversations in the mid-1980's between Wes Wehr and then Republic City council member Bert Chadick, who had noticed Wehr collecting fossils near the city hall. They considered the possible economic impact of a public interpretive center and fossil dig, allowing people to explore a "world class" fossil site, interact with researchers studying the finds, and show that important science could happen anywhere. [3] Based on the discussions, Chadick and Wehr guided the city of Republic in purchasing a house for the center, funding and Curator position, and obtaining funds from the local economic district TRICO to fund an assistant curator position. The position of curator was taken on in 1987 by Madilane Perry, an anthropology graduate who had also recently taken a course in museology. While Perry had initially cautioned that the project was possibly impossible due to resources, she had been given support and training in paleobotany by Wehr on a trip to the Burke Museum in Seattle. The turn of the century house needed some renovation and repair, plus the addition of glass cases to house the fossil collection during the 1987. The center officially opened in August of that year as a proposed addition to the city parks department, with the name "Stonerose" being chosen as a reference to the rose family fossils found in the stones. While excavating for fill rock at the north end of the city, a larger more accessible site was uncovered by city residents. A 1988 Washington State Department of Community Development grant was given allowing for the formation of the non=profit organization Friends of Stonerose fossils as a support group for the center in 1989. [3] [4] Another DCG grant was given in 1991 which facilitated a university accredited seminar for teachers on the use of fossils in class room teaching. [3] The center was later moved to a house across from the city park which was jointly purchased by the city and the Ferry County Historical Society. The house was later expanded in 1996 with funds from a Washington State Legislature grant totaling $50,000. Through fund raising efforts such as "bingo bashes" the Friends of Stonerose fossils purchased over 10 city blocks of land surrounding and including the "Boot Hill" site, which itself had around 100 ft (30 m) of exposed strata. During the 1995 digging season the center recorded more than 9,000 visitors, an amount greater than the population of Ferry County that year, [3] and as of 2014 the center averaged about 6,000 visitors per year and a since its formation had seen over 120,000 visitors. [5]
In 2019 the center again prepared for the possibility of moving locations, with fundraising to purchase a 4,000 sq ft (370 m2) building on Clark Avenue, the city main street. [6] The fundraising through early 2020 raised over $20,000 in capital and allowed for the building acquisition, along with resumption of socially distanced operations by mid-summer 2020. [7] The fossil site is a short walk away from the interpretive center and public digging is permitted with a permit. [8] Visitors may retain a limited number of fossil pieces per person per day, while significant finds are retained by the center. [5] Retained fossils have are accessioned into a customized database, Stonerose strata, and the finders name and details are kept both digitally and as a hardcopy with the specimen in perpetuity. The center asks that fossil finders be recognized in research publications on the fossils, and several new taxa have been named for finders. [5] The interpretive center and fossil site are still owned and operated by the Friends of Stonerose Fossils. [2]
The Stonerose fossil beds of Eocene Epoch age and part of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands, and preserve organisms that lived in the area circa 51 million years ago [9] when the area that is now the city of Republic was part of an ancient lake. The lake bottom layers are composed of volcanic ash which hardened into sedimentary rock, becoming fine-grained tuffaceous shales of the Klondike Mountain Formation. The fossils include various extinct insects, fish, leaves and twigs, as well as bird feathers. [10] The Republic upland lacustrine fossil beds are significant as they represent the earliest known records of the Rosaceae (rose family) and Aceraceae (maple family). [11] [12] Since the rediscovery of the Republic fossil beds, more than 200 species have been found in fossilized form. [13]
The Eocene fossil sites in Republic whose fossils feature in the Stonerose Interpretive center, are part of a series of Eocene lake beds with abundant fossil plants, insects, fish and other ancient life that extends well north into British Columbia in Canada, including the Princeton Chert, McAbee Fossil Beds, and Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park.
The fossilized Florissantia quilchenensis , a flower from an extinct cocoa relative and a member of the family Malvaceae, 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. [14] The fossil collections at the interpretive center holds a number of published fossil specimens, such as several rare Dillhoffia cachensis fruits. [15] The fossils and center have been included in Kirk Johnson and Ray Trolls travelling exhibit "Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline.", which highlights the fossil history of the west coast from Alaska and Washington. [16]
Cache Creek is a historic transportation junction and incorporated village 354 kilometres (220 mi) northeast of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is on the Trans-Canada Highway in the province of British Columbia at a junction with Highway 97. The same intersection and the town that grew around it was at the point on the Cariboo Wagon Road where a branch road, and previously only a trail, led east to Savona's Ferry on Kamloops Lake. This community is also the point at which a small stream, once known as Riviere de la Cache, joins the Bonaparte River.
Trochodendron nastae is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Trochodendraceae known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene Ypresian stage Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state. T. nastae is one of the oldest members of the genus Trochodendron, which includes the living species T. aralioides, native to Japan, southern Korea and Taiwan and the coeval extinct species T. drachukii from the McAbee Fossil Beds near Cache Creek, British Columbia.
Dillhoffia is an extinct monotypic genus of flowering plant with a single species, Dillhoffia cachensis known from Ypresian age Eocene fossils found in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, USA. The genus and species were described from fifteen specimens found in an unnamed formation belonging to the Kamloops group shales; and two specimens from the Klondike Mountain Formation. The unnamed formation outcrops at the McAbee Fossil Beds near Cache Creek, BC, which is designated the type locality while the two U.S. specimens were recovered from the Tom Thumb Tuff member of the Klondike Mountain Formation in Republic, Washington. It is of interest to note that of the Okanagan highlands fossil sites Dillhoffia is only known from two locations, and is absent or has not been identified from the others.
Corylus johnsonii is an extinct species of hazel known from fossil fruits found in the Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state, dated to the early Eocene Ypresian stage. Based on described features, C. johnsonii is the oldest definite species in the genus Corylus.
Ginkgo dissecta is an extinct ginkgo species in the family Ginkgoaceae described from a series of isolated fossil leaves. The species is known from Early Eocene sediments exposed in the province of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, USA. It is one of two Ginkgo species found at the Washington and British Columbia sites.
Wesley Conrad Wehr was an American paleontologist and artist best known for his studies of Cenozoic fossil floras in western North America, the Stonerose Interpretive Center, and as a part of the Northwest School of art. Wehr published two books with University of Washington Press that chronicled his friendships with artists and scientists.
The Klondike Mountain Formation is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) geological formation located in the northeast central area of Washington state. The formation is comprised of volcanic rocks in the upper unit and volcanic plus lacustrine (lakebed) sedimentation in the lower unit. the formation is named for the type location designated in 1962, Klondike Mountain northeast of Republic, Washington. The formation is a lagerstätte with exceptionally well-preserved plant and insect fossils has been found, along with fossil epithermal hot springs.
Fothergilla malloryi is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Hamamelidaceae known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state. The F. malloryi leaves are the earliest appearance in the fossil record of a member of the witchalder genus Fothergilla, which includes the living species F. gardenii, and F. major, both of which are native to the southeastern United States. The genus also includes three or four other fossil species with two Asian Miocene species, F. viburnifolia from China, F. ryozenensis from Japan along with one Miocene North American species, F. praeolata of Oregon. Fothergilla durhamensis described from Eocene sediments in King County, Washington is considered dubious in placement, and it was transferred to the genus Platimeliphyllum by Huegele et al. (2021).
Corylopsis reedae is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Hamamelidaceae known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state. C. readae is one of the oldest occurrences of the winter-hazel genus Corylopsis, which includes between seven and thirty species, all found in Asia. Fossils from two other occurrences are of similar age to C. readae, with Paleocene specimens from Greenland being placed in the form taxon Corylopsiphyllum and an Eocene Alaskan fossil being included in Corylopsis without species placement.
Eoprephasma is an extinct genus of stick insect in the susumaniid subfamily Susumaniinae known from a group of Eocene fossils found in North America. When first described there was a single named species, Eoprephasma hichensi.
Eorpidae is a small family of extinct insects in the scorpionfly order, Mecoptera, which contains a single genus, Eorpa. Three Eocene age species found in Western North America have been placed into the genus: E. elverumi, E. jurgeni, and E. ypsipeda.
Rhus boothillensis is an extinct species of flowering plant in the sumac family Anacardiaceae. The species is known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington State, United States. The species was first described from fossil leaves found in the Klondike Mountain Formation. Rhus boothillensis likely hybridized with the other Klondike Mountain formation sumac species Rhus garwellii, Rhus malloryi, and Rhus republicensis.
Rhus republicensis is an extinct species of flowering plant in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. The species is known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state in the United States. The species was first described from fossil leaves found in the Klondike Mountain Formation. R. republicensis likely hybridized with the other Klondike Mountain formation sumac species Rhus boothillensis, Rhus garwellii, and Rhus malloryi.
Pentacentron is an extinct genus of flowering plant in the family Trochodendraceae, consisting of the single species Pentacentron sternhartae. The genus is known from fossil fruits found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States. P. sternhartae are possibly the fruits belonging to the extinct trochodendraceous leaves Tetracentron hopkinsii.
Tetracentron hopkinsii is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Trochodendraceae. The species is known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States and south Central British Columbia. The species was first described from fossil leaves found in the Allenby Formation. T. hopkinsii are possibly the leaves belonging to the extinct trochodendraceous fruits Pentacentron sternhartae.
Paraconcavistylon is an extinct genus of flowering plant in the family Trochodendraceae comprises a single species, Paraconcavistylon wehrii. The genus is known from fossil fruits and leaves found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States, and southern British Columbia, Canada. The species was initially described as a member of the related extinct genus Concavistylon as "Concavistylon" wehrii, but subsequently moved to the new genus Paraconcavistylon in 2020 after additional study.
Carpinus perryae is an extinct species of hornbeam known from fossil fruits found in the Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state, dated to the early Eocene Ypresian stage. Based on described features, C. perryae is the oldest definite species in the genus Carpinus.
The paleoflora of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands includes all plant and fungi fossils preserved in the Eocene Okanagan Highlands Lagerstätten. The highlands are a series of Early Eocene geological formations which span an 1,000 km (620 mi) transect of British Columbia, Canada and Washington state, United States and are known for the diverse and detailed plant fossils which represent an upland temperate ecosystem immediately after the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, and before the increased cooling of the middle and late Eocene to Oligocene. The fossiliferous deposits of the region were noted as early as 1873, with small amounts of systematic work happening in the 1880-90s on British Columbian sites, and 1920-30s for Washington sites. A returned focus and more detailed descriptive work on the Okanagan Highlands sites revived in the 1970's. The noted richness of agricultural plant families in Republic and Princeton floras resulted in the term "Eocene orchards" being used for the paleofloras.
The Eocene Okanagan Highlands or Eocene Okanogan Highlands are a series of Early Eocene geological formations which span a 1,000 km (620 mi) transect of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state, United States. Known for a highly diverse and detailed plant and animal paleobiota the paleolake beds as a whole are considered one of the great Canadian Lagerstätten. The paleobiota represented are of an upland subtropical to temperate ecosystem series immediately after the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum, and before the increased cooling of the middle and late Eocene to Oligocene. The fossiliferous deposits of the region were noted as early as 1873, with small amounts of systematic work happening in the 1870–1920s on British Columbian sites, and 1920–1930s for Washington sites. Focus and more detailed descriptive work on the Okanagan Highland sites started in the late 1960s.