Nature historian Annette Sandberg is planning to take local history lovers on a 450-million-year journey through South Georgian Bay.
Sandberg will be hosting a Niagara Escarpment Formation and Fossils event at the Collingwood Public Library on March 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. She’ll be offering a history lesson on the South Georgian Bay part of the Niagara Escarpment, including discussion on which animals roamed the area 450 million years ago.
“We live in such an incredible, beautiful area,” said Sandberg. “The incredible ecosystems and the history of the land itself...it’s important people understand what we have here.”
“If we don’t take care of it, we can never replace it.”
Sandberg said many people are surprised to learn that this area was formed in the Silurian period of the Paleozoic era, and South Georgian Bay was once the bottom of a warm water shallow sea.
“In that time, this was primarily the time of the fish,” she said, adding it started with arthropods and evolved from there.
“This was all happening here. The escarpment tells the story of that through the fossils we discover,” said Sandberg.
Detailed fossils will be on display, and attendees will screen short documentary Craigleith Fossils, an award-winning film made and produced in the Town of the Blue Mountains and made possible by Craigleith Heritage Depot, Mountain Goat Films, and Blue Mountains Public Library.
Representatives from Craigleith Heritage Depot, Escarpment Corridor Alliance, Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy, Free Spirit Tours and Barefoot Brian will be in attendance to answer questions.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their own fossil finds.
“We’ll do our best to identify the fossils,” Sandberg explained. “History is only as good as what we know today. If someone brings something bizarre, it could open a new chapter of history.”
Admission is by donation and all ages are welcome.
For more information and to reserve a spot, click here.