Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Natural Reserve is a top-ranked destination for science enthusiasts of all ages! With a mission of hands-on science education, we encourage our visitors to learn about the natural world in an outdoor setting. Our programs emphasize natural history — including geology and paleontology, ecology, and astronomy. We serve 18,000 guests annually, including many who travel across the country to dig our fossils and explore our park.
Educators are the initial connection that visitors have with Penn Dixie. Educators are responsible for introducing Penn Dixie to guests, from admission to departure. The ideal candidate is driven to provide an outstanding learning experience for visitors of all abilities and backgrounds. Educators are expected to be friendly, helpful, and consistently maintain a positive attitude despite the challenge of working outdoors with large groups of visitors. Candidates do not need a formal background in geology or paleontology, but must be willing to learn.
Please note that this position is seasonal and part-time. Priority will be given to applicants who are available from April – Septemberand are able to work at least 12 hours per week.This position pays $16.50 / hour.
Essential Functions
Provide tours for guests (various group sizes)
Demonstrate enthusiastic and welcome behavior at all times.
Greet guests, accept admissions, conduct introductions, guide guests throughout the site.
Monitor and enforce safety rules.
Ensures cleanliness and organization throughout the site, including, but not limited to, collecting, cleaning and sorting fossils, organizing gift shop merch, garbage pick up, light trail maintenance.
Provide excellent customer service and be knowledgeable in Penn Dixie’s science, history, and programming (training provided).
Explain and promote Penn Dixie programs, membership, gift shop merchandise, birthday parties, and special events.
Respond to guest needs immediately, including issues requiring first aid.
Requirements and Qualifications
Documentation of U.S. citizenship or proof of eligibility to work in the U.S.
Obtain criminal background check clearance.
Ability to work a flexible schedule including some weekends, holidays and evenings.
Knowledge or interest in science and / or education.
CPR and First Aid certifications (may be provided if employee is not currently certified)
Must have your own reliable transportation to/from work.
Experience, Skills and Personal Qualities Required
Excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills
Friendly, positive attitude
Comfortable speaking in front of groups
Exceptional customer service skills
Detail-oriented
Reliable and punctual
Strong teamwork and collaboration skills
Physical Demands
Speaking in small and large groups
Walking and standing outdoors, sometimes for extended periods
Bending/stooping frequently
Dealing with highly variable weather conditions
Ability to lift/carry up to 40 lbs
To apply, send a resumé and cover letter to our Marketing and Development Coordinator, Matt Wheaton at matt@penndixie.org
Applications will be accepted through March 6th, 2024
Update: Membership gift packs are temporarily unavailable.
Your lucky recipients will enjoy one year of Penn Dixie membership and all sorts of goodies for new and returning fossil hunters!
Membership Gift Packs are available with either Family ($109.99) or Individual ($59.99) membership certificates. Free shipping! Membership is not activated until application and gift certificates are redeemed. Certificates are redeemable upon first visit during seasonal park hours (May – September) or via mail.
One year Family Membership – $90 value — with unlimited free admission for two adults and up to four children/grandchildren under age 18 -OR- Individual Membership – $40 value — with member benefits for one adult;
Four Trilobite guest passes — $64 value;
Trilobite bandana — $5 value;
Penn Dixie sticker — $2.50 value;
Amazing Arthropods gift box — $6 value;
Two tool rental coupons — $20 value;
Penn Dixie koozie — $5 value;
Trilobite patch — $3.50 value;
One “Fossil Four Pack” grab bag containing Penn Dixie fossils — $5 value;
One “Global Explorer” grab bag containing fossils from around the world (shark teeth, dinosaur bone pieces, oysters, Moroccan sea snails) — $5 value;
Penn Dixie eNews updates & digital newsletter subscription; and
Savings on special events and in our gift shop.
You’ll receive all of these items — over $200 value — inside a custom-designed, locally screened artisan box that features paleoart by Ernst Haeckel and is perfect for storing your fossil collection. Please note that the contents of our gift packs periodically change! The list above is what is currently in our gift packs.
Attention teachers, activities directors, program coordinators, scout leaders, and more! Are you looking for some fossil fun during the colder months? Let us bring Penn Dixie to you with our newest outreach program, Dig In!
Participants become paleontologists as they dig through material from Penn Dixie and learn about Buffalo’s prehistoric past! During this outreach program, a Penn Dixie educator facilitates the hands-on exploration of WNY’s ancient environment while discussing the animals that lived in our area 380 million years ago during the Devonian Period. Participants will also learn the fundamentals of fossils and fossilization.
Dig In can be catered to explorers of all ages and abilities, but is recommended for ages 5+.
After the program is over, you keep the reusable dig boxes full of rocks and fossils, along with teaching materials, so that you can recreate the fossil fun for years to come!
Program capacity:
Dig In can be booked for up to 32 participants at a time. If your group size is larger than 32 people, you will need to book an additional program(s). One dig box is suitable for up to four people. Dig box dimensions: 5 inches high, 8.25 inches wide, 13.5 inches long.
Pricing:
For groups of 16 participants or less: $200 (Plus mileage)
For groups of 17 – 32 participants: $250 (Plus mileage)
For evening programs with a start time of 5 pm or later, an additional $25 charge will be added.
Includes:
1 hour program with a Penn Dixie educator
Reusable dig boxes (with shale and fossils)
Replacement fossils
“Free Child Admission with Purchase of Adult Admission” coupons (optional)
All of the teaching materials needed so that youcan recreate Dig In again and again!
Use the form below to request this program! You can also call 716-627-4560, with questions or to book.
In recognition of Indigenous People’s Day, we are offering free admission on Monday, October 10th! The park opens 9 am and closes at 4:30 pm, final entry is at 2:45 pm. The first tour of the day departs at 9:15 am, with tours running every 30 minutes until the final tour at 2:45 pm.
We provide complimentary buckets and trowels to use while fossil hunting, as well as small bags to bring your fossils home in. Many of our visitors solely use a bucket and trowel if they’re planning to surface collect. We have a limited number of tool rentals available for $5 per set. Tools are rented on a first come, first served basis. Each set includes a small sledge hammer, a geologist’s hammer, chisel, safety goggles, knee pad, and bucket.
Registration is not required, but if you would like to guarantee a specific tour time, you can pre-register online.
Seasoned experts and first time fossil hunters alike visit Penn Dixie in the hopes of taking home a trilobite. Trilobites are extinct, marine arthropods, named for their three-lobed bodies. The majority of the trilobites found on site are Eldredgeops rana, although Greenops (uncommon), Bellacartrightia (rare), Pseudechenella (rare), Dipleura (very rare) have all been recorded at Penn Dixie.
On August 27th, 28th, and 29th, fossil hunters from all over the country flocked to Penn Dixie for Dig With The Experts 2021. Dig With The Experts is an annual event that allows fossil hunters to get their hands on freshly excavated material, with guidance provided by scientific experts who help locate and identify the site’s best fossils. Among this year’s dig participants was Theodore Gray, who unearthed one of Penn Dixie’s rarest trilobites – the coveted Pseudechenella rowi. Below is Theodore’s account of discovering and prepping this extraordinary find.
In The Field
I have been a member of Penn Dixie for years but living in California, I had been to the quarry only three times over the years. On each visit, I always found a few trilobites but never a nice prone one. In 2021, I had the good fortune to be in Western NY over the weekend of Dig With The Experts. I bought tickets for Saturday and Sunday with my goal of a nice prone Eldredgeops.
The execution of DWTE was new to me. I was aware that heavy equipment was involved but the sight of all those covered piles was amazing! The best part was no digging out the slabs by hand! Been there, done that.
DWTE participants picking their piles.
I picked a pile and got to work. I met the young guy digging next to me, Cole from Kentucky, and we shared the joys of each find from our respective piles. I finished going through my pile by early afternoon and had a number of nice Eldredgeops in matrix but no “killer” prone examples. I spent the rest of the day snooping through the discards from Friday’s digs and found a few more Eldredgeops and even one nice complete prone 1 incher.
On Sunday, we returned in earnest and the same scenario ensued. I finished my pile by noon or so and then spent the afternoon banging on other peoples’ leftovers. I found another larger prone Eldredgeops that was split in the middle of the thorax but it certainly was big enough to fit the bill, if it was all there.
At some point, I had split a chunk of a slab and spotted a small pygidium, exposed by the split. The “skin” on the pygidium was damaged by the force of the split and crumbled away. Most of the bug was encased in the matrix but as I inspected it closer, I thought I saw traces of a genal spine. I suspected that it was something different but I did not know what.
Telltale genal spine of Theodore’s trilobite.
Now, when you are digging at DWTE, you don’t waste time field prepping anything. When you find a “possible”, you put it on the keeper pile and keep moving! So, I shrugged, wrapped the trilobite in foil, put it on the keeper pile and moved on. By Sunday evening, my “keeper pile” was looking to be all that I could handle on the flight back to California and I guessed that I might need another suitcase.
On Monday, when I got back to my hotel, I revisited the little bug and it was clear that it had a genal spine. I texted “Cole from Kentucky” and sent him a photo of the mystery bug. He thought that the trilobite was an Eldredgeops, and that the “genal spine” could be a molt fragment. I told him that I thought there was a high probability that it was something else. Cole searched the PD website and found the description of thePseudodechenella rowi.
Like Cole, having only been to PD on a few occasions, I was only aware of the presence of the Eldredgeops and Greenops genera. During DWTE, I heard chatter about the Bellacartwrightia and at some point, someone mentioned something about a rare Proteid. As a self taught preparator of trilobites, I know what a Proteid looks like. I “cut my teeth” as a hobby preparator working on dozens of Gerastos granulosus, a Moroccan proteid species that is so common that the Moroccans call them “flies”. Since the holochroal eyes were not visible on my specimen, only further preparation would confirm our conclusion.
Holochroal eye (Clarkson 1975)
Schizochroal eye (Levi-Setti, 1993)
Back At The Lab
As a preparator, one wants to “practice” on the rocks from a particular locality to establish a familiarity with the way that the matrix responds to the force of the air scribes. So, it was not until almost a month later, having prepared a dozen or more of my finds, that I started on the “little pygidium” bug.
Theodore’s fossil prep lab.
In my lab, I use three primary air scribes, essentially “coarse, medium and fine”. The matrix of the Smoke Creek trilobite bed is actually quite soft so the majority of the prep work is done with the “fine” air scribe. The medium air scribe serves to “landscape” the matrix if needed. The final cleaning of crevices and such is done, by hand, with a pin vise.
Air scribe / pen.
As a preparator, one always should consider the final presentation of the specimen before starting. Since this bug was located on the edge of the rock fragment, I decided that it would look best if it was vertical on the face of the rock matrix. So, I used a tile saw to cut away the bulk of the rock fragment such that the remainder would stand up nicely with the bug presented on the face of the fragment.
Removing the matrix.
In this case, there was a substantial thickness of matrix covering the bug so I used the medium scribe to remove most of the overlying matrix, creating a crescent shaped pattern around the bug. Then, I used the “fine” scribe to carefully expose the rest of the thoracic segments and the head.
Prep progress.
The head was crushed and deformed so I stopped using the scribe when all of the main features were visible. At that point, I could clearly see that the genal spines were present on both sides and it has holochroal eyes. It was definitely a Pseudodechenella.
Pseudodechenella with uncovered genal spines and holochroal eyes.
Given the rarity of the specimen and the damage to the pygidium, I opted to stop any further preparation and send it off to a professional preparator, Ben Cooper of Trilobites of America.
Theodore’s prepped Pseudodechenella.
We would like to thank Theodore for sharing this discovery with us, and congratulate him on his rare find. If you’re interested in seeing more of Theodore’s lab and equipment, click here.
