2005
Philip J. Currie Museum
This impressive specimen of a fossilized tree trunk was collected by local amateur fossil collector Roy Bickell from along the Simonette River. At the time this specimen was preserved, non-bird dinosaurs had already gone extinct, but extensive forests with large trees covered North America. Petrified wood easily breaks apart into smaller pieces after it is exposed to the elements; therefore, most large pieces like this are almost impossible to extract from remote locations. Roy however, exceled at the logistics of moving large rocks and fossils and without his perseverance, this specimen would still be in the field.