McAbee Fossil Beds

50°47.831′N 121°8.469′W / 50.797183°N 121.141150°W / 50.797183; -121.141150

McAbee Fossil Beds viewed from the Highway.
Heritage status sign

The McAbee Fossil Beds is a Heritage Site that protects an Eocene Epoch fossil locality east of Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada, just north of and visible from Provincial Highway 97 / the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). The McAbee Fossil Beds, comprising 548.23 hectares (1,354.7 acres), were officially designated a Provincial Heritage Site under British Columbia's Heritage Conservation Act on July 19, 2012.[1][2] The site is part of an old lake bed which was deposited about 52 million years ago and is internationally recognised for the diversity of plant, insect, and fish fossils found there. Similar fossil beds in Eocene lake sediments, also known for their well preserved plant, insect and fish fossils, are found at Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park near Smithers in northern British Columbia, on the Horsefly River near Quesnel in central British Columbia, and at Republic in Washington, United States.[3] The Princeton Chert fossil beds in southern British Columbia are also Eocene, but primarily preserve an aquatic plant community.[4] A 2016 review of the early Eocene fossil sites from the interior of British Columbia discusses the history of paleobotanical research at McAbee, the Princeton Chert, Driftwood Canyon, and related Eocene fossil sites such as at Republic.[5]

The McAbee site is now under the management of the Bonaparte First Nation, who have title on the lands.[6] The site is currently closed to the public while interpretive components are installed.[7]

  1. ^ "McAbee fossil site receives heritage protection". Archived from the original on 2013-03-12. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  2. ^ McAbee Fossil Beds Heritage Site. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  3. ^ Wilson, M.V.H. (1977). "Middle Eocene freshwater fishes from British Columbia". Life Sciences Contributions, Royal Ontario Museum. 113: 1–66.
  4. ^ Cevallos-Ferriz, SRS; Stockey, RA; Pigg, KB (1991). "Princeton chert: evidence for in situ aquatic plants". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 70 (1–2): 173–185. Bibcode:1991RPaPa..70..173C. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(91)90085-H.
  5. ^ Greenwood, D.R.; Pigg, K.B.; Basinger, J.F.; DeVore, M.L. (2016). "A review of paleobotanical studies of the Early Eocene Okanagan (Okanogan) Highlands floras of British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 53 (6): 548–564. Bibcode:2016CaJES..53..548G. doi:10.1139/cjes-2015-0177. hdl:1807/71961.
  6. ^ Wilson, Deborah (June 21, 2019). "Fossil bed reopens under new Indigenous management in B.C.'s southern Interior". CBC News.
  7. ^ "McAbee Fossil Beds Heritage Site". Province of British Columbia.