BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Clarkia Flora fossils have a remarkable story for something believed to be 15,000,000 years old.
The fossils, preserved in an ancient lake bed in northern Idaho near Clarkia, were discovered in 1972 during construction of a snowmobile racetrack.
They were preserved in Miocene lake sediments so perfectly that their leaves often show their falls colors. It hasn’t hurt that the Fossil Bowl, as it’s known, has remained tectonically stable so the fossils have been undisturbed.
Now, scientists are studying these in hopes of getting a glimpse of the future.
Dr. Bill Rember will discuss how research conducted at this site is providing a new window into our understanding of climate change at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in the basement of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 2nd Ave. S., in Hailey.
The free presentation, titled “Idaho Paleobotany: Fossils of the Clarkia Flora,” is being hosted by the Wood River Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.
Rember is the affiliate professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Idaho and the director of UI’s Tertiary Research Center. He has been unearthing and studying the Clarkia fossil flora for decades.