Campers, Composers and Cake at Florissant Fossil Beds, Summer 2019

Hip-hop artists Joey (left) and Nehemiah (right) with Geoscientists-in-the-Parks intern Kevin Jauregui at Florissant Fossil Beds. NPS photo by Jeff Wolin.

Summer 2019 was a busy one at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado, as described by Kevin Jauregui, a Geoscientists-in-the-Parks intern, and Jeff Wolin, the monument's lead interpreter, in the Park Service's Park Paleontology News.

Campers

For the second year in a row, the monument offered a free geology and paleontology camp for upper elementary students. Ricardo Escobar, then a MOSAICS in Science intern, started it in 2017. The camp meets Colorado science standards and gives underserved young people a chance to appreciate, understand and care for geologic resources.

In 2019 it was led by Karleen Mays, an Environment for the Americas intern, and Jauregui, funded by the Youth Partnership Program, and aimed at children of military families from Fountain–Fort Carson School District 8 in Colorado Springs. There were three sessions, each five days of about six hours:

• Early in the week, campers learned broad concepts such as the structure of the Earth, plate tectonics and geologic processes.
• Later, they focused on the processes that formed the Florissant fossil beds.
• Each day they took something home: a handmade fossil replica, a play-dough model of the Earth's layers, or a real fossil they found at a nearby private quarry.

Campers wore bright green paleo-camp T-shirts, asked lots of good questions, and some kept researching at home. A few brought their families back later in the summer and led them around the monument, showing off what they had learned. The camp was set to continue in 2020.

Composers

The monument also held a Hip Hop Boot Camp, inspired by the Youth Ambassador Program (YAP!), which began at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park to connect young people to the Park Service through hip-hop. Paid for through the Interpretation and Education fund, the project was a partnership with Ben Gilbarg, one of YAP!'s founders, of Big Picture Anthems in Oakland, California, which uses music and video for educational and social impact, and with the National Council for the Traditional Arts. The goal was to bring two young hip-hop artists to connect deeply with the monument and then write and record two songs about it. Wolin and Jauregui led the effort.

In late July, Gilbarg came with two 19-year-old Oakland artists: Joey Lovett, known as Cangaroo, from West Oakland, and Nehemiah Vaughn, known as Nuisance. Both had turned to music as a healthy way through hard times. Over two full days, they hiked the monument's trails, learned about paleontology, searched for fossils at a nearby private quarry, watched wildlife, immersed themselves in deep time and learned the area's human history. Among mountain meadows with Pikes Peak behind them, they opened a laptop and began freestyling over Gilbarg's beats. By mid-August, days before the anniversary, rough drafts of the songs were ready.

Cake

On Saturday, August 17, 2019, Florissant Fossil Beds celebrated its 50th anniversary. Speakers told how one of the richest fossil deposits in the world nearly became a housing development. In summer 1969, grassroots activists and lawyers delayed the developers long enough for a bill moving through Congress to pass and be signed by President Richard Nixon, making the area part of the national park system. The fight became a landmark case in U.S. environmental law. In the five decades since, the monument has built a world-renowned paleontology program and reached millions of visitors through interpretive and award-winning youth programs.

Speakers included Kate Hammond, a Park Service regional deputy director; Teller County Commissioner Norm Steen; U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn; Superintendent Therese Johnson; Dr. Herb Meyer, the park's first paleontologist, in the job for 25 years; and keynote speaker Dr. Dena Smith of the National Science Foundation. Three panels featured people who lived at Florissant, people who fought for the monument, and people who worked there. Wolin and paleontology campers led a sing-along, and the new rap song "Defenders of Florissant," from the Hip Hop Boot Camp, had its premiere.

Sources

• Kevin Jauregui and Jeff Wolin, "Campers, Composers, and Cake at Florissant Fossil Beds in the Summer of 2019," Park Paleontology News, vol. 11, no. 2 (Fall 2019), National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/park-paleo-fall-2019-badlands-florissant.htm
• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/index.htm