The Big Horn Basin Foundation and the Wyoming Dinosaur Center would like to thank you for sharing in our programs. Please take a look at the enclosed criteria for our volunteer certification programs and do not hesitate to call or e-mail us with any questions.
For questions or information contact us at:
Big Horn Basin Foundation
Thermopolis, WY 82443
ext 223
The Big Horn Basin Foundation (BHBF) is a nonprofit educational organization partnering with the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (WDC). Our goal is to provide educational experiences that will excite your mind and encourage further discovery, whether it is finding a bone in the dinosaur quarries or learning the skills in the prep lab.
We are greatly indebted to our volunteers without whom we would not be where we are today. We have several sites on the Warm Springs Ranch a few miles from the WDC, as well as an active Supersaurus quarry near Douglas. The Jimbo Project was made possible through volunteer hours and donations, which allowed us to collect and prepare the Supersaurus specimen.
We cannot accept any first time volunteers staying for less than 1 week. Volunteer Application forms must be completed before date of arrival and the exact start and end dates that you intend to volunteer must be stated. As a volunteer you will be expected to effectively be part of the staff.This means that you will be expected to arrive on time each day and to fully participate in the specific tasks assigned to you. As you gain instruction and experience, you will be given more and more options to participate in a myriad of projects.
The Big Horn Basin Foundation offers basic and intermediate preparation certification and basic and intermediate field certification. The preparation certifications are generally taught throughout the year, however there are seasonal restrictions limiting our field training to the summer months.
If you complete the criteria set for any level you will be awarded a certification for that level. Although donations are not mandatory for this instruction, in-kind or monetary donations are gratefully accepted to help offset operation and instruction costs.
All staff and volunteers must continue to uphold the policies and criteria required for certification throughout their time at the center. Incomplete requirements or unsatisfactory performance will disqualify certification until lacking components are accomplished or upheld.
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center does not have the facilities to accommodate for your meals, transportation or housing while you are volunteering with us. Please feel free to call if any of these items are an issue.
The Big Horn Basin Foundation and Wyoming Dinosaur Center dig sites are a scientific research operation in which the public has been invited to participate. Fossil collecting from our ranch is not allowed without permission from a supervisor. All other fossils will not be removed or disturbed from any location at any time unless otherwise directed by a site supervisor. There will be crewmembers present to ensure the integrity of the dig sites while providing a place in which the public will be allowed to encounter a professional learning and teaching experience.
We reserve the right to refuse instruction to a person whenever we feel that individual is not well suited to be part of our staff, or is detrimental to specimens under our care. When a person is accepted as a volunteer, he or she will always be eligible to volunteer so long as he or she conforms to the certification criteria.
Below is a short description of each department that volunteers may assist in:
Field
Here you will assist in the discovery and removal of real dinosaur bones. Please consider the very hot dry weather, and that the fieldwork may be strenuous and hazardous. Participants must be in good physical condition, ready for unpredictable weather changes, steep slopes, falling rocks, insects and rattlesnakes. All participants are required to wear proper shoes (closed toed such as tennis or hiking shoes) at all times, other personal protective equipment will be provided. If you will be in the field please bring a hat to shield you from the sun, sunscreen and a water bottle. We will provide ice water on location at all times.
Prep Lab
Here you will assist in the removal of matrix (rock) from real dinosaur bones. Several methods that you will become familiar with are the air abrasive unit (sandblaster) air tools (mini jack hammers) and dental picks. The conditions in the lab are very dusty so be prepared to get dirty. All participants are required to wear proper shoes (closed toed such as tennis shoes) at all times, other personal protective equipment will be provided. The temperature in the lab is usually kept at about 70 degrees.
Basic Preparation Certification
The basic level is an introduction to the elementary requirements of fossil preparation that includes such topics as learning proper documentation, identifying bone and abnormalities that occur, applying the glue correctly, learning the prep processes and purpose of procedures.
All basic members will need to perform a number of tasks given by the prep lab manager or assistant before advancing to the intermediate level of prep. You must prove you can successfully and correctly prepare specimens as well as learn all functions and regulations of the prep lab.
Criteria
-Proper documentation procedures
-Identifying bone
-Application of glues/consolidates
-Become familiar with safety regulations and MSDS
-Introduction to preparatory techniques
Intermediate Preparation Certification
Intermediate level candidates are further instructed in preparation procedures and techniques, and will become less and less supervised until they can take a project they are given from initiation to completion without supervision.
At the intermediate level, you will be cross-trained to perform and assist with a variety of tasks. Tasks learned during the intermediate prep course include removing a specimen correctly from a jacket and the ability to choose a proper method of stabilizing and preparing a specimen.
Criteria
-Mastery of techniques and procedures listed in the Prep Lab Handbook
-Mechanical preparation
-hand tools
-air scribes
-abrasives and rotary tools
-Chemical preparation
-water
-acids - explanation only
-Can initiate and complete assigned projects unsupervised
-Differences in preparation for science and display
-Reconstruction techniques
-Molding and casting - demonstration and discussion only
-Proper storage for specimens-discussion only
Basic Field Certification
The basic field certification program is intended primarily as an introduction to what types of materials to watch for, how to recognize fossil specimens, and how to dig with basic tools. This level of certification will not prepare a participant for excavation work on his or her own; instead, the program is intended as a precursor to the intermediate level of certification.
Although the basic field course does not require completion of the basic prep course beforehand, most participants who have not completed basic prep will need several extra days in the basic field program in order to pass. The basic prep course is thus highly recommended as the introductory program to the fossils and procedures of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center volunteer program requires certification through at least the Intermediate level to work at the dig sites without the immediate supervision of staff members.
The single most important aspect of the basic field certification is learning to identify fossil materials and potentially significant non-fossil materials. Heavy emphasis is placed on this ability during the certification test, so any questions participants have about identification should be directed toward the instructor in order to facilitate learning the necessary materials.
Criteria
-Introduction to field techniques
-Able to identify fossils
-Dinosaur bone
-Plant
-Rejection of fossil look-alikes
Intermediate Field Certification
The intermediate level of field certification is the minimum requirement for staff and volunteers to work outside the immediate supervision of certified staff at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center dig sites. Hill supervisors will assist in developing field localities and site plans.
Participants in the intermediate level of field certification will need to demonstrate that they can properly excavate, survey, document, and remove a specimen. At a minimum, proper digging techniques and removal methods must be demonstrated. The intermediate program also places more emphasis on identifying what kind of fossil material or significant specimens are encountered during the digging process as well as rigorous field documentation of those specimens.
Certification at the intermediate level for the dig sites requires completion of the Intermediate level of preparation. This requirement helps to ensure that volunteers and staff realize the consequences of their actions on the hill when the specimen(s) are moved to the prep lab.
Criteria
-Determine and apply proper consolidates and adhesives for a given situation
-Understands the scientific process and the value of proper documentation
-Can list the various forms of documentation used for each specimen
-Site Journal entry
-Photograph
-Sketch
-Specimen sheet
-Master logbook entry
-Why we document (what each term means and examples of how the information might be used)
-Brunton, total station, and other survey methods
-Mastery of field techniques
-Basics
-work away from the bone
-expose
-consolidate
-Fine rock techniques
-how much force to use
-small tools, where to get them
-various matrix and quarry conditions
-Special casts and review of various methods of protecting a bone from quarry to repository
-Can determine the appropriate method of collection for the specimen.
-Able to properly jacket a fossil for removal from the site.
Days Inn --
Located in the Hot Springs State Park. Restaurant, lounge, pool and athletic club.
Best Western --
Located in the Hot Spring State Park across from the Days Inn.
Rainbow Motel --
- Kitchenettes
Coachman Motel --
Super 8 Motel --
- Continental breakfast
Cactus Inn -- 307-
- Kitchenettes
Elk Antler Inn --
Moonlighter Motel --
Fountain of Youth --
Eagle RV --
Some local attractions (please contact the Chamber of Commerce @ for more details).
* Whitewater rafting
* Two water parks located in the Hot Springs State Park open all year
* 9 hole public golf course
* Hot Springs Historical Museum
* State buffalo herd roams the edges of Thermopolis
* Some of the best trout fishing in the country
A Volunteer working in the Prep Lab
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