Champlain Valley fossils, ancient reefs, and old forts are the topics professor and paleontologist Nancy Budd will cover on August 19 at the Crown Point Historic Site, from 10 am to 12:30 pm. The program is sponsored by Champlain Area Trails (CATS).

After a 45-minute presentation in the Museum’s theater, program participants will find and identify fossils in the rock exposures at the historic site. Most fossils in the Champlain Valley are approximately 460 million years old and are remnants of what was once a shallow sea along the edge of the Adirondacks. The climate of the Champlain Valley was subtropical, and the fossils include a diverse group such as sponges, brachiopods, gastropod snails, bivalves, and trilobites and many others.

Nancy Budd is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sudies at the University of Iowa. As a paleontologist, her expertise is in coral reefs and their evolution over the past 60 million years. Professor Budd now makes her home in Essex, NY.

The program is designed for all age groups. A suggested donation of $10 is requested; young people under 18 and students are free. To pre-register, click here or call the CATS office at (518) 962-2287.

For more information on CATS programs, visit their website.

Photo: Crown Point Historic Site, provided by CATS.