Paleontologists in Tumbler Ridge kept from worksite by floods

Flooding in northeastern B.C. has many people in Tumbler Ridge cut off from the rest of the world, including a team of paleontologists desperate to reach a field of dinosaur tracks.

Lisa Buckley and her team are working to uncover a 6,000 square metre field of dinosaur tracks which are due to be presented publicly for the first time on July 8.

"This is a site that has great scientific and historic value for the Peace Region because the last time footprints of this age were seen on large track surfaces was the late 1970s," Buckley told Radio West host Audrey McKinnon.

"As scientists we've been waiting for a long time to revisit a large surface of rocks that are 115 million years old to see what the dinosaur tracks were like."

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Buckley says the July 8 event is meant to showcase B.C.'s paleontological heritage which has long been overshadowed by Alberta. the setback means her team might not have the site in the state they want it to be in by July 8.

"But we're pretty good at what we do. Once we hit the ground, we'll hit the ground running," she said. "We'll still have wonderful things to show, it's just whether we'll have enough wonderful things to show."

Working in their favour is that most areas of the track surface only have 10 to 30 centimetres of soil cover.

Buckley says the immediate concern will be if the heavy rains have done any damage to the track surface by brushing dirt, rocks and gravel across it.

With files from CBC Radio One's Radio West

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Dino scientists can't make tracks to dino tracks because of Tumbler Ridge flooding