• May 2nd, 2025: BGS Banquet: Scott Mckenzie will be joining us for a second time to talk to us about meteorites. Mr. Mckenzie not only has a wealth of knowledge on the subject but has an impressive collection of meteorites. Do you have a meteorite or think you have one? Well bring it along for some Q and A with Mr. Mckenzie.

  • ***Please bring one item per-person for the gift raffle so that everyone leaves with a prize.

• April 4th, 2025: Michael McElwee is giving a presentation on what is being found at the Russell Farm.

  • The Russell Farm is a private Herkimer Diamond mine that Michael has had the opportunity to be digging in. They have found all sorts of amazing specimens and Michael is going to not only be talking about the geological history of the area but also showing off some of the specimens he has collected at the mine in 2024.​

• November 1, 2024 - Monthly Meeting at 7pm at Heritage Discovery Center, 100 Lee Street, Buffalo, NY. Guest speaker, Scott McKenzie on Dinosaur Secrets. New theories on how they looked and lived. The new evidence that T. Rex had feathers and horns. Could the giant long neck dinosaurs swim? Ankylosaur anomalies and other dinosaur mysteries! Scott McKenzie is a semi- retired paleontologist from Mercyhurst University in Erie. He is an award winning instructor with over 70 scientific publications. Fossils he has found are now at the Carnegie Museum, the Smithsonian, Buffalo Museum of Science and the London Natural History Museum. 

• October 12, 2024 - WNY Earth Science Day sponsored by the Buffalo Geological Society 9 am to 4 pm at the Heritage Discovery Center, 100 Lee Street, Buffalo, NY 14210. This event is to educate students, children and adults on the importance of geologists to our society and various job opportunities for geologists.  

• October 4, 2024 - Monthly Meeting at 7pm at Heritage Discovery Center, 100 Lee Street, Buffalo, NY. Guest Speaker Domenic D'Amore will be speaking on Finding Gnatalie: Excavating Dinosaur Fossils in Southeastern Utah  about the sauropod he worked on that will be mounted in LA this fall. ​​

• ​September 21, 2024 - Reinstein Woods Fall Fest 9-4pm

• September 7, 2024 - BGS Annual Picnic at North Forest Pavilion

• June 6-9, 2024 - BGS field trip to Calvert Cliffs. 

• May 3 - Annual Banquet and installation of new officers. Banquet reservation form due by April 25

• April 24 - Continuing Education meeting 8:35am - Masonic Hall, Sweet Home Rd, Amherst NY

• April 5 - BGS Meeting 7:30pm. Two Speakers: Caleb Walcott "Refining the late Pleistocene glacial history of western New York using luminescence dating of sediments" and Ray Vaughan "Recent & ongoing geologic work in Western New York"

  • Caleb Walcott is a PhD candidate in the geology department at the University at Buffalo. He studies the evolution of northern hemisphere ice sheets throughout the late Quaternary using a variety of geochronological tools. His research often takes him far afield to Alaska and Greenland, but some of his most memorable field experiences have been around western New York. Outside of work, he enjoys the bountiful nature that western New York provides year-round by biking, running, skiing, hiking, and hunting – all atop glacial sediments!

  • Raymond C. Vaughan, Ph.D., P.G., is a professional geologist and environmental scientist in Buffalo. His Ph.D. in geology is from UB. Ray is semi-retired, does some consulting, and has worked on local environmental issues for many years. Earlier in his career, he worked for 33 years in research and development in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, then from 2000 to 2012 as an environmental scientist in the NYS Attorney General’s Office. He has served since 1997 on the West Valley Citizen Task Force which advises NYSERDA and the U.S. Department of Energy on cleanup issues at the West Valley nuclear waste site. From 1980 to 1999 he served on theTown of Hamburg Conservation Advisory Board. He currently sits on the boards of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (parent organization of Buffalo Museum of Science and Tifft) and the Nature Sanctuary Society of WNY, and he formerly served on the Western New York Land Conservancy board from 1991 to 2002. He has a wide range of interests including WNY history, on which he has presented at conferences in Buffalo, Lewiston, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Canoeing, hiking, and sailing are some of his favorite activities. He and his wife Sheila have been married 58 years, share many interests, and have traveled together to many favorite places.​

• April 11 - BGS Board meeting 7:00pm at 100 Lee St

• March 27 - Continuing Education Meeting 8:35am - Masonic Hall, Sweet Home Rd. Amherst, NY

• March 16 & 17 - ANNUAL BUFFALO GEM SHOW Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10am-5pm. Sign up to volunteer at the various jobs to make our show a success!

• March 15 - Set up for Annual Show at the Fairgrounds in Hamburg

• March 7 - Continuing Education Meeting 8:35am - Masonic Hall, Sweet Home Rd. Amherst, NY

• March 1 - Live Auction begins at 6:30pm. More info in March Newsletter. Note earlier time. 

• February 2 - Talk by Dr. Phil Stokes from Penn Dixie Fossil Park on Back from the dead: Unveiling an enigmatic new species from Western New York. 7:30pm -- 100 Lee St. By Dr. Phil Stokes, Executive Director, Hamburg Natural History Society/Penn Dixie:

• "In April 2023, two off-duty staff members unearthed the remains of a mysterious and previously undescribed echinoderm while digging for trilobites at Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve in Hamburg. The discovery rocked the scientific community – pun intended, as this particular line of primitive animals was thought to have gone extinct nearly 30 million years earlier. Revival of this ‘Lazarus taxon,’ which originated during the Cambrian explosion when most major animal groups first appeared, sheds new light on our planet’s history of life. The new species is currently under study at the Smithsonian Institution by experts who are eager to establish its proper place in the animal kingdom."

• January 5 - BGS Meeting 7:30 pm -- Talk by Dino Zack on Fluorescent Minerals of Northern New York

• January 11 - BGS Board Meeting 7:00pm -- 100 Lee St.

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2023

 

• December 1 - Annual Potluck Dinner & Silent Auction: 6pm at 100 Lee Street

• December 7 - BGS Board Meeting: 7:00pm at 100 Lee Street

• November 3 - BGS Meeting: The topic will be Geologic Critical Thinking: When does a Hypothesis Become a Conspiracy Theory? by Dr, Thomas Hegna. Doors open at 6:30 PM and the program starts at 7:30 PM at 100 Lee Street

• November 4 - DinoFest: Buffalo Museum of Science

• November 9 - BGS Board Meeting: 7:00pm at 100 Lee Street

• November 29 - Continuing Education: 8:35am at Masonic Hall on Sweet Home road

• Rochester Lapidary Society Annual Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show - Sat. & Sun. Oct. 28 and 29, 2023  at the Total Sports Experience Center at435 W Commercial St, East Rochester, NY 14445. Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM, Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM. https://www.facebook.com/events/3115182328776964/?ref=newsfeed

• Field Trip to LaFarge Quarry, Lockport, NY - Sunday Oct.15, 2023 arrive by 8:30 AM to sign paperwork and attend the safety lecture. We will enter the quarry at 9:00 AM. No late arrivals are permitted. The quarry is located at 400 Hinman Ave., Lockport, NY. 

• Continuing Education - Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Sweet Home Masonic Hall at 835am. Don Lapham will attempt to give a talk on one of the many topics he has on hand

• Saturday, September 16th - The Banick Mineral Sale will occur from 9:30-4:00pm at 3811 Schintzius Road Eden, NY. 

• Annual Family Picnic - September 9, 2023 The annual Family Picnic will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2023 from noon-5pm at the North Forest Pavilion, North Forest Road, Williamsville, NY 14221. The park is behind the TOPS store on Main Street in the Village.

• 18 Mile Creek Collecting & Cookout - July 26, 2023 RESCHEDULED to August 30, 2023

• Continuing Education - June 28, 2023 The speakers for Wednesday June 28, 2023 will be Marilyn Broad and Bill Broad respective;ly discussing how to do wire-wrapping for jewelry and how to do cabochons. Demonstrations will be done. Breakfast will be served at or near 845am. Marilyn has all of the requisite supplies to help you in doing wire-wrapping and Bill has some nice slabs he will work with in making some cabochons. Information regarding materials that will be available will be sent out to the members who are interested.

• June Auction - June 24, 2023 June 24 at the Masonic Lodge at 641 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst, NY. Viewing begins at noon, auction starts at 1:00. The minerals are from the collection of a serviceman who served in WWII and Korea and was stationed all over the world after his time in Korea. Many specimens are from his time in South Africa. He lived the majority of his life in the Spokane, WA area but was also located on the US East Coast.

• ​Annual Banquet - May 5, 2023 BGS Annual Banquet Payment due April 25th. Click here for more information​. The annual Banquet will be on Friday, May 5, 2023 at the Classics V Restaurant, 2425 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst, NY 14228  in the Terrace Room. Guest speaker, Dr. Lisa Amati, the State Paleontologist at the New York State Museum will be presenting the talk, "New York's Finest Fossils."

• Continuing Education - April  26, 2023 8:35am at Sweet Home Masonic Hall, 641 Sweet Home Road Amherst NY 14226. Will be discussing February 6th earthquakes in Turkey, Buffalo and elsewhere. Mark Castner, retired senior seismologist at Canisius College will give a talk starting at 9:45am.

• West Elementary School's Science Fair - April 21, 2023 The BGS will be at the West Elementary School's Science Fair on April 21, 2023 from 6pm -8pm. Anyone wishing to assist , please contact C. Posmantur at 7168348935

• WNY Grand Island Welcome Center - April 22, 2023 the BGS will have a table at the WNY Welcome Centre on Grand Island from 11am-2pm. as before, contact C. Posmantur at 7168348935

• Monthly Meeting - Friday, April 7, 2023 April's monthly meeting will be held at 7:30pm at 100 Lee Street with guest speaker, Dr. Jonathan Hendricks, who is the Associate Director of Science Communication at the Paleontological Research Institution. He will be presenting on the PRI exhibit, “Year of the Devonian." 

• Continuing Education - March 29, 2023 Glen LaPlaca of Past & Present Science and Nature Store will be giving a presentation on the acquisition of the dinosaur models for this year's Annual Show together with tales of his excavations last summer and the set-ups of the respective displays at various shows.

• Friday, March 3, 2023 General Meeting/Annual Auction POSTPONED to Friday March 10, 2023

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• Annual BGS Picnic - September 10, 2022 This year’s club picnic will be held on September 10, 2022 at the Harlem Road Community Center (4255 Harlem Rd, Snyder, NY), starting at noon and running for a few hours (until people cannot eat any more!). We have reserved the Center’s Pavilion, complete with plenty of tables, a grill and indoor facilities. The club will provide soft drinks, water, Italian sausage, hamburgers and hot dogs. Please bring a dish to share, your own table service (cups, plates, silverware, etc.), and any rocks and/or stories that you would like to share!  Restrooms are in the building, but the building closes at 4 PM. Visitors are welcome, just bring a dish to pass. Enjoy a good time, good food and good friends.

• 52nd Gem Mineral Fossil Show - March 23-24, 2019