RE: Where would you hunt?

[john-schneiderman@cox.net]

First of all, I feel it is important to rebuilt the infrastructure 
first...what do I mean? Well, we all ready have a lot of material stored 
in various institutions waiting to be prepared and studied. A lot of 
information is waiting to be brought to light...some of the early paleo 
discoveries overlooked some of the small details and in some cases the 
exact positions of the finds.

Second, we need to Educate the public and the next batch of 
paleontologists...there is still a lot of mis-information out there and 
poor field practices.

Third, we have to get the government to both aid in continue research 
and provide laws which assists, not bar research.

Fourth, although there are many flashy sites world-wide, I believe in 
not out sourcing all our talent and funding, there is a lot yet to be 
discovered here in our own 'backyard'...examples of prime locations in 
need of exploration and field study in the US:  Appalachia (east half of 
US), west coast, early cretaceous Utah, Alaska, "Dakota Formation", etc.

I'm researching and exploring the Dakota Formation here in 
Nebraska/Iowa, the big "100 MA mystery zone" lots of potential...so if 
you have any loose "lottery winnings" not earmarked, might I suggest....

John Schneiderman
john-schneiderman@cox.net



On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Stephen V. Cole wrote:

> I will start by saying I did not win the lottery, but promise that if 
> I do, I'll donate money to find dinos. But to move on.
>
> A guy walks into your office. He's a dino fan, not a scientist, and 
> won the lottery. He offers you a million dollars to fund expeditions 
> to "go somewhere and dig up something and add to our knowledge of 
> dinosaur evolution." (He wants to go along just for fun and name a 
> junior synonym after himself.)
>
> He mentions that he had actually brought two million dollars but that 
> some guy named Tom Holtz had talked him into giving half of it to 
> train new dino prep technicians. Shucks, a million is still a million.
>
> Anyway, I know nothing of mounting such expeditions, but assume that a 
> million would do multiple trips, starting with a very small party to 
> survey the area and establish connections with equipment rental 
> places, local law enforcement, supplies, maps, and whatever.
>
> The questions is, where in the whole world would you want to go in 
> order to dig up something that would ADD TO current dino-paleo 
> knowledge? Not saying you cannot go to the old places (Argentina, 
> Chad, Egypt, Mongolia, Madagascar) but perhaps there is some untested 
> ground with explosed Mesozoic formations that deserves a look if only 
> there was money?