with Jessica Haines and Dale Leckie
June 20, 2026 – 10:00 a.m.
Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park
Difficulty – Moderate – ~3km, some steep sections and rough trails

Search for traces left by dinosaurs and a ground squirrel, whose population is in decline. Explore cottonwood forests and prairie, while we gain insight from a wildlife biologist and a geologist. Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park is rich in natural history – learn what makes this landscape and its local wildlife unique..

On this trip, we will discuss evolution of the Red Deer River valley, the relationship between large floods, cottonwood poplar ecology, and wildlife habitat. We will discuss and view from a distance, sediments which represent that instant in time when the dinosaurs and 76% of all life on earth perished. We will talk about the glaciers of the last ice age, which are so important for landscape evolution of the prairies. Dry Island Buffalo Jump is the site of a large Albertosaurus bone bed excavated by the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Across the river, still in the park, is a bonebed of ostrich-like Ornithomimus.

This park is also home to Franklin’s ground squirrels, which is a declining species of ground squirrel in Alberta. We will take part in checking wildlife cameras and counting Franklin’s ground squirrels in the forests along the river valley. This area is one of the study areas of the Franklin’s Ground Squirrel Conservation Project run by Dr. Jessica Haines, a project which is helping us better understand why this species is disappearing from the province. This area is also home to diverse wildlife, including moose, deer, vultures, and small mammals such as chipmunks and red squirrels. This time of year there are typically lots of wildflowers blooming, making it a beautiful landscape to explore.

Dr. Jessica Haines is an assistant professor at MacEwan University who specializes in small mammal conservation and wildlife biology. She enjoys teaching her students about conservation, ecology, and evolution.  She is working to better understand where Franklin’s ground squirrels still live in Alberta and why they are in decline. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time outside hiking, fishing, and hunting, usually accompanied by her Labrador retrievers. 

Dr. Dale Leckie is a geologist and author who worked at the Geological Survey of Canada and as chief geologist at Nexen Inc. He has edited numerous books and published widely on the geology of western Canada. He is adjunct professor at the University of Calgary. Dale has been recognized for his long-term contributions to geology and is an honorary member of Society for Sedimentary Geology and Canadian Energy Geoscience Association. Dale is the 2024 recipient of the Geosciences in the Media Award by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Dale’s trilogy of best-selling books encourages people to get out and explore Western Canada. “The Scenic Geology of Alberta”, and “Rocks, Ridges, and Rivers” were both short listed at the High Plains Book Awards. “Wildlife, Landscapes, and Geology” examines the relationship between wildlife habitat and landscape.

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