Activity Level:

Due to the difficult terrain and the potential for high temperatures in July, this course is rated as Strenuous. Participants should be in good physical condition and are required to be 16 years of age or older.

Instructors:

Alan Brown is an instructor of Geology at Middle Tennessee State University and director of the MTSU mineral, gem and fossil museum. He has a bachelor’s degree in Geology and a master’s degree in Hydrogeology from Illinois State University. For the past 4 summers he has participated in dinosaur paleontology fieldwork in numerous locations across Montana.

Jerry Jacene is the Field Director and Paleontologist for the Makoshika Dinosaur Museum (MDM) in Glendive, Montana and the director and Paleontologist for

 the Glen Rose Texas Dinosaur Track Site of Glen Rose Texas. Jerry also taught a field course on molding and casting in the Yun Nan province of China.

Steve Bury is a co-founder of the MDM. Discovering a dinosaur with his family in 2001 was the catalyst in development of the MDM, which has worked to preserve the local fossils of Montana since its opening in 2005. The MDM is on the Montana Dinosaur Trail.

Chantell Bury is a 2013 alum of Montana State University (MSU) with a B.S. in Geology and is a co-founder of the Makoshika Dinosaur Museum in Glendive, MT. Chantell was part of the Natural Science Foundation (NSF) funded Paleo Exploration Project's (PEP) summer internship program in 2009 and 2010, which was conducted by The University of Montana, and was one of nine students in Montana to study and research dinosaur eggs in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in China during the early summer of 2010. The Dinosaur Eggs and Education program was funded by the NSF and conducted through MSU.

Readings are optional in this non-credit course, but you might find the following list of interest before embarking on the trip:

• "Barnum Brown: The Man Who Discovered Tyrannosaurus Rex," by Lowell Dingus and Mark Norell
• "Bones for Barnum Brown," by Roland T. Bird
• "Fossil Legends of the First Americans," by Adrianne Mayer
• "Life of a Fossil Hunter," by Charles Sternberg (anything written about Sternberg will also be interesting and useful)
• "The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science," by Mark Jaffe
• Any works on Mary Anning

Travel, Accommodations, and Logistics:

Participants will be responsible for providing their own transportation to and from Glendive, MT. A map and directions can be viewed and printed HERE.

Shuttle service will be provided to participants who fly in to the Dawson Community Airport.  The next nearest airports are at Billings, MT and Bismark, ND, each approximately 3 hours away.  Participants flying in to those airports will need to rent a car or arrange for alternative ground transportion to and from Glendive.

Comfortable accommodations will be offered at the Student Living Complex on the Dawson Community College campus.  Two-bedroom units are fully furnished with a stove, refrigerator, and single beds. Wireless Internet access is available. Course participants will be responsible for their own meals. There is a minimum occupancy of 2 persons per unit, so solitary participants will be paired with a roommate.

All participants must have medical insurance. Be prepared for hot weather, cool nights, and a variety of topographically challenging hikes. Participants must be in good physical condition. This course includes a lot of strenuous activity. Please review the required and optional equipment lists and rules for participation below.

Equipment:

Required Gear:

• Good hiking boots (sandals are not allowed in the field)
• Day Pack
• Water containers (min. 2 qts) - You'll go through a lot of water in the field. It's very hot and dry.
• Sunscreen
• Hat (a definite must-have)
• Insect repellent
• Long pants (you may wear shorts, but pants are encouraged in the field)
• Sleeping bag or blankets

*Participants are also responsible for bringing food for the full duration of the course, including sack lunches for the field work each day. There is a grocery store close to the lodging, and each room has a full kitchen & refrigerator as well.

Optional Gear: 

• Rock hammer 
• Hand lens (10x)
• Camera

Rules:

• DCC will retain ownership of all vertebrate fossils collected.
• No unsupervised fossil collecting at any time.
• Participants are responsible for bringing all personal gear.
• Report all illnesses, allergic reactions, or injury to instructors promptly.

  

• Stay together in the badlands; do not leave the group without informing the instructors.
• Look out for your classmates.
• Dress appropriately.

Registration: