In Their Words

Jason Mitchell, veteran and firefighter

When he was just a young boy, Jason Mitchell of Enid, Oklahoma, was “in love with dinosaurs and fossils and everything about them,” as he said recently. So, it was only natural that after his one-and-one-half year deployment in Iraq, the 22-year Army veteran turned to hunting for fossils as a way to reconnect with his then eight-year-old son Hunter.

“He had had a hard time with me away so long and we really needed some quality dad-son time together,” notes Jason, who is now a firefighter. “Plus, he was at the age when kids, especially boys, are really into dinosaurs. It was also something that I had always wanted to do.”

That first excursion with Paleo Adventures, which Jason notes definitely helped with their re-bonding, grew into several more. Their “hunts” eventually led to Jason and Hunter meeting up with Tom Hebert, recent founder of the Earth Sciences Foundation, Inc., and his daughter, Emma. Both families were by then volunteering at Paleo Adventures and were sent off to explore a quarry on their own to see if it had potential for the company’s digs. After two to three days together digging up fossils, they became good friends. 

Now, Jason looks forward to supporting Tom in two of the big initiatives of the Earth Sciences Foundation. These include “Veterans Engaging and Transitioning to Science” and “Earth Sciences and the Youth.”

“If a veteran has any interest in fossils or geology of anything of that nature, I think it would be a really good experience for them to spend some time doing it,” says Jason. “It would be a de-stress time because when you’re in a quarry, it’s very minute, time-consuming, focus work. You have to concentrate,” he notes, “and while you’re concentrating on that one thing, you’re not thinking about the other stuff. You’re not thinking about what happened during your service.” Also, the hope is that therapy digs might help veterans find skills and interests they didn’t know they had.

And Jason can certainly attest that getting youth involved in fossil hunting and categorizing is beneficial on several fronts. He and his son, who is now 20, still go out on hunts together, now doing some exploring on their own in their native Oklahoma.

“Oklahoma is not really known for its fossils, but we’ve enjoyed the challenge of finding sites around the state,” he says.

As for youth and families getting involved in the Earth Sciences Foundation, Jason, who has a display of some of his fossil findings in his living room,definitely recommends it for both. “If family members are interested in it, it’s a great experience for everybody, helping them to bond and also making a difference in preserving this ancient history.”

Digging into the past, opens up Sabrina Wagner’s future

Wearing a dinosaur mask to her Calculus1 class has opened up all new interests and opportunities for Sabrina Wagner, who is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire majoring in geology and environmental science.

Thomas Hebert, founder of the Earth Sciences Foundation, was also in that classand as Sabrina noted, Tom likes dinosaurs. So, seeing the mask, he struck up a conversation with her, telling her about his research. She was interested. “Eventually I asked him if I could join his team and that’s how it started,” she said. “I guess it was the right day to wear a dinosaur mask.”

Sabrina ended up working on mapping a fossil site in South Dakota with Hebert and also going on an exploratory dig in Montana. “Before we went out to the first site, Tom and I learned how to use the [surveying] software and equipment donated by Carlson Software,” she explained, noting that Ladd Nelson, Carlson sales director from our region, trained them. “After gaining some confidence, I was able to take that equipment out in the field to mark the locations of the fossils,” she added.

This involved setting up a base unit and then Sabrina would carry the rover to where someone found a fossil, mark the x, y, and z coordinates, and then note what kind of a fossil it was and who found it. Not exactly easy to just “pick up” working with surveying software and hardware, but in the process of taking this on Sabrinafound she liked both surveying and identifying rocks. “It was a passion that I found when I went into the field with Tom,” she said. “I didn’t know I was good at it, and I didn’t know I would like it until I did it.”

Important realizations
This experience is making her lean toward paleontology as a career. “I now know that paleontology is a job that is an option for me,” she said. “I’m realizing that I have more options than I thought I did.”

Another important thing to Sabrina was actually finding fossils. “Every time I found any kind of fossil, even if it was a broken fossil—something that no one has ever touched before—it always just made my heart drop,” she explained. “I didn’t know that a job like this could make me so happy. It gave me butterflies.”

Of course, Sabrina recommends it to everyone. “It’s a very relaxing, peaceful activity and then you get this jolt of happiness,” she said. “It’s fun and anyone can do it.” 

And, there’s an added benefit she noted: “If you find something that’s really, really good it could end up in a museum and then you can go look at it and say, ‘I found that!’”

How do you tell your 50-year-old husband no to a dinosaur bone digging trip? You don’t and be glad you said yes. When my husband told me he wanted to bid and win the dino dig at the USACares gala fundraising event, I thought he was out of his mind. Seriously, we would never find any bones. I have never been happier to be proven wrong. 

Myself, my husband and another couple had the privilege and pleasure to join Tom on a dino dig in May of 2024 in Montana. We were all excited but did not know what to expect. After arriving at Bozeman airport and driving the beautiful scenery in Montana to little town called Round up, we were getting more excited and skeptical about this trip. We arrived at a beautiful ranch with Tom and many canine friends greeting us. Tom was so excited to show us around we immediately unload and took the cars back out to the far reaches of the ranch property. Even though no dino bones that day, we watched an amazing sunset of beautiful cliff boulders. That evening, we all were still a little questionable as to finding dino bones. 

The following morning greeted us with excitement and gorgeous cool Montana spring weather. We drove about 30 minutes to another ranch and like all good troupers, hiked through sage brush, clay mud, cow patties, and dust. We scoured the ground with amazing luck. We found bones eureka. Then the fun part began. We were all 8 years old again digging in dirt. We meticulously dug out a large bone and found many smaller triceratops bones. Our group was giddy, determined and quite dirty by the end of the day. Our plan was to return the following day to finish the job and plaster the large bone. 

With luck we managed to find all the borders to this bone and plastered it, ready for the guys to carry it back. While waiting, I opted to just keep troweling along the same ridge of dirt. Oh, my eureka again, I found another dinosaur bone. With much excited, we had to take this bone as well. With many small pieces of bone and 2 large bones, we packed up and the long haul back to the SUV began. Us ladies opted to take the supplies and smaller bone, while the big strong men carried probably 300 pounds of bone and plaster and dirt up the creek bed, up the sage brush hill, and through the cattle gate to the SUV. It was no small feat. Once we were all back to the truck, the smiles, jubilation and utter enthusiasm could not be contained. 

That evening we celebrated at the local bar with other dino diggers that were in the area who knew Tom. We traded dig stories and dig pictures, joked and reveled in our success. As we left the following morning, our trip was successful, and we were already talked about when to come back to dig for more dinosaur bones. My thoughts as we left the ranch to continue our Montana adventure were about my husband’s dreams to find dino bones coming true. I cannot say enough amazing, wonderful things about Tom and the Earth Sciences Foundation. The work he is doing with veterans, today’s youth, native American tribes and preserving these amazing treasures is beyond words.