Crocodiles, Stingrays, and Bats, Oh My!

Cindy Mayron

Once upon a time—50 million years ago—crocodiles, stingrays, and bats inhabited southwestern Wyoming. Today their fossilized remains, plus those of turtles, fish, birds, insects, mammals, and plants are found on top of buttes at elevations of over 7,000 feet.

Geologist Jerome Montgomery, Green River Stone quarry manager, will share the processes used to harvest these remarkable fossils from the Eocene geological era of earth’s history on Thursday, Feb. 13, in the Madera Ballroom from 7-8 p.m.

In an age well after the demise of dinosaurs, three large tropical freshwater lakes occupied southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and northwestern Colorado. Geologists first discovered the fossil remains during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

The entire process of recovering these amazing fossils will be Jerome Montgomery’s focus. Green River Stone fossils can be found in the Field Museum of Natural History, the Fossil Buttes National Park Visitor Center, as well as in homes of private collectors throughout the world.

The lecture series is open to the public. Tickets are $5 and are available at the Madera Concierge desk (checks should be made payable to TWOQC Charity Account) and at the door the night of the lecture (cash or check).

The Kino Lecture Series is sponsored by The Women of Quail Creek’s (TWOQC) Scholarship Committee. Each year cash scholarships are awarded to female high school seniors in the Sahuarita Unified School District who are pursuing post-secondary study in a community college, vocational, trade, or technical school. Scholarships for Women-In-Transition are also awarded to women over 21 in Pima or Santa Cruz Counties who want to return to school to pursue a certificate or degree to increase job skills or acquire a new job skill. Since 2016, TWOQC Scholarship Committee has awarded $27,000 in scholarships.