MUSEUM PROJECT NEEDS A CHAMPION -- FOSSILS OF THE 1ST WALKING VERTEBRATES -- 350 MILLION YEARS LATER

 NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

 Blue Beach Fossil Museum Project Needs A Champion 

OR WILL THIS PROPERTY BE SOLD TO A PRIVATE BUYER?

World-class - 350 million year old fossil shoreline

Museum operators, Sonja Wood and Chris Mansky are ready to shut down their 16 year fossil museum operation for the right price. There is (and has been) no sustainability funding to help the home-based Blue Beach museum in its day-to-day operation and. The small museum is operated by the land-owners, who've dedicated nearly 20 years of fossil protection, preservation, and promoting the 350 million year old fossils found at Blue Beach. The current museum is home to fossil bones and footprints of the first 4 legged land animals to move from water and walk on land, their ancestors and many other fossils of this unique time period.  The collection is attracting renowned vertebrate and footprint experts from around the world inspiring new research papers that have been and are being published on these significant fossils.  Unfortunately, two people can no longer hold this project up all by themselves without salaries and monies to pay for the overhead and the couple are now forced to post the geo-heritage property for sale.

  

Many slabs of fossil footprints from the first creatures to walk on land

Track Meet - 2010

  

In the years of operation the couple worked to create the non-profit Blue Beach Fossil Museum Society in order to build a 'new' museum at the site, completing a lengthy process with the Kings County Planners, making changes to the land-use bylaws and zoning of the Blue Beach property via 'Development Agreement' - for the purpose of the new museum.

Rendition for the 'new' proposed Blue Beach Fossil Museum

The Society was originally promised $100,000 over a three-year period contingent upon the project’s ability to secure outside funding. The first $33,500 was the only payment awarded to the society. The landowners, however, now have a sizeable debt with several local contractors because of work required by the Development Agreement process. This process took 7 years to complete instead of the usual one or two.  The now-famous Blue Beach fossil site sees over 10,000 visitors per year, many of whom will surely miss the excitement being generated by the current museum. We hope this is not the end of the plans for a new museum at Blue Beach.

The small home-based museum attracts over 10,000 visitors per year

The BBFM Society plans to continue to seeking funding and to campaign for a Founding Patron (s) in order to secure the designated piece of the property, and build a new museum to host the 350-million year old fossils. One commercial possibility of the property is that the BBFM Society may purchase, or lease, a portion of the land to build a new museum.

King's County Council approved the BBFMS 'Site Plan'

Should the property be sold to a 'private buyer' it would be requested the collection remain stored on-site upon transfer of ownership until another storage facility is chosen.

In this small home-base museum, the fossils have outgrown their home

The question is, who will get this property? After years of hard work and dedication by the home-based 'Blue Beach Museum', there is still no government plan to assist the BBFM Society in their goals. If ever there was a time for a 'Champion' to take notice and do something for this critical fossil site, now’s that time. Otherwise, a private buyer will most-likely lay claim to it. 

Blue Beach, Minas Basin on the Bay of Fundy

 Links to Ad's & BBFMS Website below:

Canadian Fossils Have Outgrown Their Home
Hidden in Stone
A Big Dead Fish Story
The Word From Above
A Monument Fit For A Beast
Listed - Blue Beach Property - Homes By Owners

Kijiji Listing For Sale - Blue Beach Property Ad

Blue Beach Fossil Museum - Website
Birthplace of Vertebrate Paleontology in Canada
Paper Cuts

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