discover the big cats! sponsorship opportunities · were plant-eaters, and were among the last of...

NEWS FROM THE GREAT VALLEY MUSEUM WINTER 2015 /16 MODESTO JUNIOR COLLEGE YOSEMITE COLLEGE DISTRICT VOL. 38, No. 1

Coming: February 20th

, 2016 "Discover the Museum" Gala!

I Discover the Big Cats!

f you've ever wanted to go on safari, this year's Great Valley Museum Gala Dinner might be the next best thing. The Big Cats from the Osterberg collection will be showcased around the Mary Stuart Rogers dining room for the Gala dinner. In case you didn't know, in 1972, Maurits Osterberg, a lo-cal businessman and an avid hunter, donated his extensive collection of animals from all over the world to the Great Valley Museum. These Big Cats are the featured part of the museum to be "discovered". Dinner will be served next to the Bengal tiger, lions, leopards and panthers of the collection ( taxidermied, of course ). To make the evening even more interesting, one of the researchers at Project Survival's Cat Ha-ven will be the featured speaker. Project Survival's Cat Haven is an innova-tive park dedicated to the preservation of wild cats located in the Sierras past Fresno. Cat Haven believes that preserving wild cats in their native habitat is the principle justification for maintaining them in captivity. They provide excellent homes for all of their 37 cats, but their focus is to educate people about the plight of endangered Big Cat species. Our Gala speaker will inform us about the latest research and conservation

efforts for these Big Cats. This year, hors d'oeuvres will be served at the museum with time to wander the museum and watch the Science on a Sphere. After-wards, it's a short stroll to dinner in the Mary Stuart Rogers building where the Big Cats will be dis-played. Something new this year is the Early Bird Special. If you buy your tickets before December 31, you'll save money as well as deduct it from this year's income tax. Please look at the Gala sponsor-ship opportunities to choose the support level of your choice. Re-member, all the proceeds go to continue the programs of the mu-seum. We're counting on your help to keep the museum going.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Single Ticket Admission - Prior to December 31st — $100 - Post December 31st — $125 Event Sponsor — $600

- Two tickets to the event + Family membership for one year to the Great Valley Museum + Your name in the evening printed program and listed in the Great Valley Museum news-letter

Table Sponsor — $1,500

- One complimentary reserved table for eight guests + Your name in lights for one week on the MJC electronic marquee on College Ave. + All benefits (+) included in an Event Sponsor Bronze Sponsor — $2,500

- One complimentary reserved table for eight guests + Your logo in the evening printed program + All benefits (+) included in a Table Sponsor

Silver Sponsor — $5,000

- One complimentary reserved table for eight guests + Science program from GVM Traveling Teachers for class of your choice + Half page ad in the evening printed program + All benefits (+) included in a Bronze Sponsor Gold Sponsor — $10,000

- Two complimentary reserved tables for six-teen guests + Planetarium show for a class of your choice + Full page ad in the evening printed program + All benefits (+) included in a Silver Sponsor

Remember: February 20th, 2016

Great Valley Museum Gala Dinner

“Discover the Museum”

See you there!

T H E A M A Z I N G W O R L D O F S C I E N C E & N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y

CONTACT US 209-575-6196 209-575-6466 fax [email protected] www.mjc.edu/gvm Modesto Junior College West Campus Science Community Center 2201 Blue Gum Ave Modesto, CA 95358 MUSEUM PUBLIC HOURS Sunday closed Monday closed Tuesday 12pm-4pm Wednesday 12pm-4pm Thursday 12pm-4pm Friday 9am-4pm Saturday 9am-4pm Public parking on the MJC campus is $2 Monday – Fri-day. Please bring small bills. Parking is free after 5 pm on Fridays, and all day on weekends. PLANETARIUM Tickets available at the GVM Nature Shop or online. Not recommended for children under 4 years of age. Limited to the first 100 guests. Please arrive 10-15 minutes prior to scheduled show time as the doors to the Planetarium DO NOT OPEN once the program has begun. The planetarium currently has public showings on Fri-days & Saturdays. Check our web page, www.mjc.edu/gvm for pro-grams, times and pricing.

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Live Animal & Bookworm Story Telling

Story hour during the school year is geared to 3-4 year olds. The animal shows are suitable for everyone but very small children, who are welcomed if supervised by their parents. All stories and shows start at 10 am, last about

an hour, and are free with paid admission.

Dec 4 Bears & Hibernation

Dec 18 Animals in Winter

Jan 15 Wonderful Winter Weather

Feb 5 Wild Animals—Forests

Feb 19 Wild Animals—Jungle

Mar 4 Spring Weather (Rain)

Mar 18 Spring Weather (Rainbows)

T he most recent “working meeting” of the traveling teachers, focused on efficiency. These outreach education leaders donate many hours to GVM in addition to their work as Traveling Teachers. The positive evaluations that are coming in express how well this added attention to programs is received. The Outreach Education schedule for the 2015-16 programs are booking steadily. As an example the month of March 2016 is full with materials and traveling teachers being booked tight. The TT program has several programs planned for each month already.

Enjoy the picture of our November 5th meeting where we reviewed the Scientific Process. Come join the team as we could use some trav-eling teachers who want to take our live animals to schools. In the next newsletter we will review our new Water Program; a precursor to Tuolumne River Trust and the Water Ways program. GVM has collaborated with them (TREK) for many years so it is logical to be a part this new adventure.

Traveling Teacher Corner

“Hands -On” Wednesdays

T

he “Hands-On” Wednesday, an after school program for elementary

school children, will be continuing through the winter months. These exciting

classes will be held the first Wednesday of the month from 3:30-4:30. In gen-

eral, Hands-On Wednesday will expand themes from the Great Valley Muse-

um’s rotating exhibits. Museum staff will engage young learners with experi-

ments, demonstrations and touchable objects to increase curiosity and gener-

ate interest in further discovery. Your child can expect something different and

exciting for each Hands-On Wednesday class.

For more information and to enroll call 575-6196 or visit our website.

www.mjc.edu/gvm

3

D id you have a favorite

dinosaur when you were a child?

Were you ever inspired to dig a

deep hole in the back yard looking

for the Mesozoic reptiles? How did

it go? Did you get very far before

mom told you to stop digging up

her roses? Have you ever

considered the possibility that there

could have been something down

there? Believe it or not, there are

places in our region where finding a

dinosaur is not out of the question.

Stanislaus County holds a unique

distinction in regard to dinosaurs.

The rocks of the Great

Valley Group were deposited in a

sea that lay between the trench and

the western shoreline of the North

American continent. The shallow

ocean environment is called a

forearc basin. The sediments

consist of primarily of sandstone,

siltstone, and shale that cascaded

off the submerged edge of river

deltas along the shoreline. The

underwater landslides were called

turbidity currents. The sediments

pushed on the crust, and subsidence

allowed vast thicknesses of

sediment to accumulate. In the

region around Del Puerto Canyon

east of the Bay area, the layers total

as much 25,000 feet. At the south

end of the valley near Bakersfield,

the rocks are around twice that.

All in all it doesn't sound

like a good place to search for

dinosaur fossils. The rocks are

the right age, Cretaceous, but the

dinosaurs were terrestrial crea-

tures. They no doubt roamed the

slopes of the volcanoes and

coastal plains of the continent,

but few are known to have spent

much time in the oceans. Finding

a dinosaur fossil here seems

about as likely as finding a cow

or coyote skeleton at the bottom

of the sea in the modern day.

So, a hypothetical ques-

tion: what if you did find a cow

or a coyote skeleton on the sea

floor? Could you explain it? It

might take a moment, but one

could imagine an intense flash

flood along one of the rivers that

flow off the Sierra Nevada and

through the Great Valley, trap-

ping and drowning a few cows or

other creatures along the way.

Their carcasses would have

floated downstream, and eventu-

ally the bones could have sunk to

the sea floor. I bring up this point

because the sediments of the

Great Valley Group have in fact

yielded a few dinosaur fossils,

and they probably did originate in

a river flood.

The first dinosaur ever

discovered in the state of California

was found in 1936 in Stanislaus

County by a 17 year old boy named

Al Bennison. He was searching for

shell fossils in Del Puerto Canyon

near a prominent landslide about

two miles up the canyon when he

found some bone fragments on the

hillside. They proved to be the

remains of a duck-billed dinosaur

(or hadrosaur), possibly a creature

called a Saurolophus. He brought

the bones to his high school teacher

in Gustine who reported them to the

paleontologists at U.C. Berkeley.

The bones were added to the

Berkeley collections where they

remain to this day.

These were big creatures, as

much as 30 or 35 feet long. They

were plant-eaters, and were among

the last of the dinosaurs, along with

Triceratops and the tyrannosaurs.

Bennison's discovery made news at

the time, but few people in our

county are aware of the awesome

paleontological heritage of our

region today. I'm hoping that will

be changing soon as we prepare a

display for the new Great Valley

Museum.

By Garry Hayes; Geology Professor Modesto Junior College

The Land of the Drowning Dinosaurs

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Manager’s Notes

Many Gathered for Grand Opening!

T wo dozen people braved the rain on Monday night, November 2nd to celebrate the Grand Opening of the new col-lection and curation building. Officially, the building is titled the Great Valley Museum Education Demonstration Center. It is located behind the north-west corner of the museum. This new building is a climate controlled storage area complete with a freezer room and a secure vault for prized possessions. All the collections of the museum were on display in their storage locations that rainy night. It was quite amazing to see how vast the Osterburg collection is. The building also has a reception/work area where future classes/gatherings may be held. However, the building will not usually be open to the public.

T he Great Valley Museum has a new office technician. Meet Sam Leatherman, a native of Palm Springs. He grew up in the Mojave Desert, but he ended up graduating from a high school in the Sacramento area. He went on to get his B.A. in Church Ministries from SAGU University in Texas. He has been working with a non-profit, Destiny Christian Church, as a youth director and pastor. While there, he helped coordinate a two night extravaganza called "Celebrate Ameri-ca". 45,000 people attended this singing and dancing tribute to America. He has also worked with the Sacramento Kings in a Toys For Tots "give away", where 10,000 bikes and 25,000 toys were given away to underprivileged kids.

At the museum, Sam will handle the school tours, oversee The Nature Shop, and coordinate the volunteers. Plus, he will be in charge of creating the museum's newsletter. As you can see, he is vital to the museum.

Sam has many hobbies. He likes to go dancing with Ashley, his wife of three years. He enjoys working with his hands and reading, especially books on leadership and fictional thrillers. To say he is a Star Wars fan is an understate-ment, and you can find him rooting for and watching the Oakland Raiders. Now, he is also a big fan of the Great Valley Museum.

Next time you are at the museum, stop and meet Sam!

2016 GALA COMMITTEE SCIENCE COLLOQUIUMS

George Boodrookas

Diana Loomis

Martha Carter-Bhatti

Roger Gohring

Larry Hockenberry

Sandy Marks

Jodi Karambela

GVM Staff

MJC West Campus - Science Community Center Room: 115; 3:00pm — 4:00pm

12-02-15 “A Light Look at Reversing a Warming Planet”

Des Orsinelli, Engineer

01-27-16 "Autism: Facts, Myths, and What to do After Diagnosis"

Deborah Laffranchini, MJC Child Development

02-03-16 “The Tuolumne River, Stanislaus County’s Water Lifeline” Peter Drekmeier, Tuolumne River Trust

02-10-16 Darwin Day Talk

02-17-16 “Modesto’s Water Supply”

Will Wong, Modesto City Engineer

02-24-16 “Modesto’s Water Reuse Program”

Will Wong, Modesto City Engineer

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Membership

Categories

$40 Senior

$50 Individual

$120 Family

$250 School

$300 Other Groups

Business

$500 Small Business

$1000 Standard

$2000 Premium

$5000 Elite

Here is how you benefit by becoming a member:

*Free admission to the Museum *Valley Views Newsletter *10% discount in the Museum Store *Resource materials for checkout *Discounts on class and program fees *Discounts on Planetarium Shows

Name _______________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip ______________________________________________________

Phone ____________________________________________________________

E-mail ____________________________________________________________

Check payable to the Great Valley Museum, 2201 Blue Gum Ave., Modesto, CA 95358

Visa/Master Card accepted online or inside the Nature Shop

http://mkt.com/great-valley-museum-at-mjc/membership

he second Saturday of October was Wild Planet Day

at the Great Valley Museum. There was something scientific for young children to senior citizens and eve-ryone in between at Wild Planet Day. The activities included making blue bird boxes to watching 3-D printing or investigating drones from Drones for Hire.

McGruff the Crime Prevention Dog from the MPD and Frank the Salmon from the US Forest Service came, much to the delight of all the small children. There were connect your bones activities, microscope explorations, squid and owl pellet dissections, and wild chemistry ex-periments. The Enoch's CSI group did zombie and child-sized CSI activities. The lobby of the MJC Science Building ( Science Com-munity Center) was filled with Mike

Sutton' s amazing California Native reptiles, and numerous non-profit organizations from the area, like Tuolumne River Trust, U.S. Wild-life, showing how to conserve wa-ter. MID, Morris Nursery and the City of Modesto also generously donated their time to demonstrate water conservation techniques. The MJC Geology club served up their brontosaurus burgers and sold out to the hungry crowd. There was so much going on that it created a strong feeling of a science community. Over 1,000 people participated, including vol-unteers. Plus, there were many family groups who enjoyed them-selves tremendously.

Thanks to generous donations from Roger Gohring and Foster Farms, all the admission fees were strictly profit for the museum's chil-dren's science projects. If you didn't go, you missed a fun-filled SCIENCE day. Mark your calendars and plan to attend next year when Wild Planet Day will be the last week-end in September. The Bat Lady is returning.

Jose Gonzales as a Scientist at the " Take a Scientist Selfie " room

T

A Wi ld ly Successfu l Day!

http://mkt.com/great-valley-museum-at-mjc/membership

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GIFTS, MEMORIALS, PERIODIC TABLE

he Great Valley Museum has a nice way to remember a deceased relative or friend, or to acknowledge a

birthday, anniversary or other special occasion. You can make a memorial contribution or recognition gift to the Great

Valley Museum in someone’s name. We acknowledge your gift in three ways: with a thank you to you, with a note to

the family or honoree saying that you have made a donation and specifying the occasion, and with a listing in Valley

Views.

Roger Gohring Jerome & Corrine Robson

John Gallo Tana & Brian Dennen

Save Mart Supermarkets Foster Farms c/o Sharon Farmer (Wild Planet Day) Diana Loomis (Wild Planet

Day) Teri Curtis (Wild Planet Day)

Karin Mettler (Wild Planet Day) Linda Brzezinski (Wild Planet

Day)

Josh Bridegroom Karen M. Sutton/Ron

Warren Herb Helbig

Kevin & Esther Knobel Scott McRitchie

Marilyn McRitchie Delwin & Karen Tiffin

Shelly Scribner Jerome and Corrine

Robson Annette Coury

Mary Cook Clorinda Otte Tricia Turner

Scott McRitchie

Jim & Joyce Fisher Carole Davis

Marjorie Hickman Sue Husted

Richard Avant & Denise Godbout-Avant

Elizabeth Woodley George & Marie Bairey

Diana Loomis John Flemate Molly Flemate

Marilyn Spiegel Alice Takeda

NEW MEMBERS DONATIONS EVELYN ELEMS

12/4/15 Making Fuels from Sunlight, Water and Air — Frances Houle; Chemist -

Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis - Department Head for Science of Large

Scale Systems - MJC West Campus Sierra Hall 132 7:30pm

01/29/16 El Niño and Its Influence on California Climate — Noah Hughes; Professor of Earth Science,

MJC - MJC West Campus Sierra Hall 132 7:30pm

02/26/16 Can stem cells or DNA manipulation prolong life expectancy? — Brian Kennedy; Biologist,

CEO and President of the Buck Institute for research on aging - MJC East Campus Auditorium 7:30pm

03/25/16 Can desalination solve California’s water problems? — Tom Luster; Analyst with the Califor-

nia Coastal Commission - MJC West Campus Sierra Hall 132 7:30pm

04/15/16 Mini Symposium on Climate Change — Daniel Kammen (UCB) and Linda Rudolph (Public

Health Institute) - MJC West Campus Mary Stuart Rogers Student Center **6:30pm - 9:30pm

M.A.P.S. Lectures

WINTE R 2 0 1 5 C A L E N D A R F O R T H E G R E A T V A L L E Y M U S E U M

UNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 *Science

Colloquium 3pm 3 4 Open 9am-4pm

Science Night 7pm-10pm

*Bookworms 10am *Planetarium Shows

*MAPS 7:30pm, Sierra Hall 132

5 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

6 7

8 9 10 11 Open 9am-4pm

*Animal Show 10am *Planetarium Shows

12 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

13 14 15 16 17 18 Open 9am-4pm


19 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

20 21 22 23 24 Closed 25 Christmas Day - Closed 26 Closed

27 28 29 Closed 30 Closed 31 Closed

For full details of events mentioned here call the museum at ( 2 0 9 ) 5 7 5 - 6 1 9 6 or view web www.mjc.edu/gvm

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SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 3 *Science


Science Night 7pm-10pm


6 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

7 8 9 10 *Science



13 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

14 15 16 17 *Science



20 2016

GALA

21 22 23 24 *Science




27 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

28 29

T H E A M A Z I N G W O R L D O F S C I E N C E & N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 Closed 2 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

3 4 5 6 7 8 Open 9am-4pm


9 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

10 11 12 13 14 15 Open 9am-4pm


16 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

17 18 19 20 21 22 Open 9am-4pm


23 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows

24 25 26 27*Science




30 Open 9am-4pm

Planetarium Shows 31

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

OPEN 9am-4pm

OPEN 12pm-4pm

WINTER 2015/16

Current Resident or

MUSEUM PUBLIC HOURS Tuesday - Thursday: 12:00pm - 4:00pm Friday & Saturday: 9:00am - 4:00pm MUSEUM ADMISSION : 12 & Over: $5 Children 3-12: $3 Family– (up to 6): $15 Age 55+: $4 MJC students w/ID: Free Call for group prices Parking M-F: $2 CONNECT WITH US: Phone (209) 575 - 6196 Fax (209) 575 - 6466 Email: [email protected] Email Traveling Teachers: [email protected] Web Page: www.mjc.edu/gvm

Like us: facebook.com/greatvalleymuseum

Twitter: @gvmatmjc

Valley views designed by Museum Staff

MUSEUM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Jodi Karambela

Vice President: Vacant

Treasurer: Tim Fisher

Secretary: James McAndrews

YCCD Board Representative: Anne DeMartini

YCCD Representative: Dr. Al Alt

Roger Gohring Elizabeth McInnes

Jeff Kahler, DVM Deborah Martin

Diana Loomis Denise Vieira

Larry Hockenbery Joyce Stetler

Martha Carter-Bhatti

MUSEUM STAFF

Museum Interim Manager: Arnold Chavez

Museum Specialist-Outreach Education: Molly Flemate

Museum Office Technician: Samuel Leatherman

Senior Curator: Stan W. Elems

Curator of Vertebrates: Guy Van Cleave

Curator: Teri Curtis

discover the big cats! sponsorship opportunities · were plant-eaters, and were among the last of...

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