Our first field trip of the spring season will be to the Bushkill area, across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. Our first stop will be to a new site (never before visited by our Society) from the Middle Devonian Mahantango Formation which can yield a wide variety of marine invertebrate fossils including the official state fossil of Pennsylvania, the trilobite Phacops rana. The diverse fauna also includes brachiopods such as Rhipidomella, Mediospirifer and Athyris among other species. One can also find bivalves like Modiomorpha, the fossil snail Bembexia, straight shelled cephalopods (nautilus-like creatures), corals like Trachypora and the horn coral Heterophrentis, as well as crinoids and bryozoans.

Afterwards, we'll visit Bushkill Falls where one can hike along the river with views of the falls within a beautiful forest setting. The rock formations exposed here are also Mahantango Formation, and there is a small nature museum in this part of the park (note, there is no fossil collecting allowed in the park). There is also a restaurant and bathroom facilities elsewhere in the park. Access to the concessionaire facilities in the park are free, but there is an admission to the hiking and falls area.

Detailed driving directions will be included in our April issue of the Newsletter.

A field guide by Erich Rose is being specially prepared for this trip and will be provided to those attending. In order to get an idea of how many guides we need to prepare, please register for the trip by E-mail at fieldtrips@nyps.org. We will also attempt (no guarantees) to match up people who have cars with those needing a ride to Bushkill at our March and April meetings at the museum.