An Official Field Trip of Name of Your Club (City, State) (HOST) ß Required

An Official Field Trip of Name of Your Club (City, State) (HOST) ß Required

An Official Field Trip of ??? ß DMC Member Club will put their name here

Day of Week, Month day, Year ß Required

Time a.m./p.m. Eastern/Central Time ß Required
Site Name ß Optional

City or County, State ß Required

Limit ?? People ß Optional

Registration Required ß Optional

Fee: $?? ß Optional

TRIP: A brief description of the trip. Is there something special about the site, for example the history of the site, geology, paleontology, etc? Maybe there is a tour included. Think about things that may be of interest to participants for example how long your club has been collecting there or why this site is a great collecting location in your area for this particular mineral or fossil. Is there anything else about the trip that you want participants to know? ß Optional

COLLECTING:Description and/or list of what participants will be collecting. Include information that may help participants, for example, how difficult it is to collect and how common or rare the material is. ß Required

BRING:List of tools, supplies, recommended clothing for the site and/or weather conditions, food, water -- anything you think participants will need for a successful trip. You may want to include information such as whether or not digging, climbing around rocks, hiking, or other physically demanding activities will be necessary and if any special tools or equipment would help with those activities. For example, if the terrain is rocky you might recommend hiking boots with good ankle support, or if it is muddy or wet you might recommend a change of clothes. Maybe a small shovel and screen are needed or a big shovel or a sledge hammer or pick. Think about what you would bring. ß Required

REQUIREMENTS: Specific requirements for the site. For example, safety equipment like hard hat, safety glasses, steel toed boots, gloves, etc. There may be a strict age restriction, for example only 18 and older allowed. Other requirements might be a restriction on how much can be collected, rules about the sale of items collected, rules about where participants are allowed to go at the site, tools that are or are not allowed, whether or not participants are allowed to dig holes or must fill holes before leaving etc. If the location is a quarry, participants may be required to have a quarry employee escort them in and out of the quarry. ß Optional

SPECIAL CONDITIONS: Particular difficulties that may be encountered at the site. Maybe parking is limited so participants should carpool as much as possible. If the terrain is rough or potentially muddy, you may want to recommend 4 wheel drive vehicles or vehicles with high clearance. Warn participants about potential dangers like snakes, loose rock, high walls, etc. ß Optional

Fee: Provide the per person fee or fee schedule, for example by age, by activities desired, per hour, etc. ß Optional

REGISTRATION: Number of participants allowed plus name and email or phone for the person to contact for registration. ß Optional, but contact is required if registration is required

CHLDREN (Yes/No): Are children allowed? Choose Yes or No. Add any additional information here, for example, is there an age limit? If children are present is adult supervision required at all times? Is this location particularly suited for children or not really suitable for children at all or younger than a certain age? ß Required

PETS (Yes/No): Are pets allowed? Choose Yes or No. Add any additional information here if necessary, for example, are there any restrictions such as leash required at all times? ß Required

FACILITIES: Explain what facilities are available at the site. Are there toilets? Place to get food and drink? If no facilities are available at the site, where are the nearest facilities? ß Required

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Anything else you would like to add, for example lodging information, recommended dining, other places of interest in the area, host club amenities like drinks and snacks, etc. ß Optional

DIRECTIONS AND WHERE TO MEET:

Provide clear directions to the meeting location. If possible meet near the collecting site, less than 10 miles or so away, and not at the site. Truck stops, fast food places, and grocery store parking lots are good places to meet because there is usually access to food, restrooms, and gas. At the meeting place, your club can collect any fees for this location, have releases signed (if needed), go over the rules and regulations for collecting, how and where you will park, show example material from the site, explain the geology involved, and answer questions from those attending. Be sure to have guide cars in the lead, middle, and end of the caravan so that no one will get lost on the way to the collecting site from the meeting place and make sure all of the drivers have the trip leader’s phone number in case they do get lost. It is not advisable to publish directions to the actual field trip location as this may encourage individuals (members and non-members) to visit these sites before and after the actual field trip.

CONTACT: Provide the name of at least one person with email address and/or telephone number. There must be at least one phone number contact for the day of the trip.

How to Fill out the DMC Field Trip Notice

Please replace all of the yellow highlighted text with text for your trip. Note that some text is required, some is optional. You may also add additional sections if needed.

The time at the top of the notice should be the time you expect participants to be assembled at the meeting location or collecting site. Always put the time zone at the collecting site. Also, the time can be a range, for example 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If there is a specific start and stop time but you need to caravan to the site, list a meeting time that allows for travel time first, then the collecting start and stop time on the next line, for example:

Meet at 8:30 AM Eastern

Collect from 9:00 AM to 3:00 AM

“A picture is worth a thousand words”. If you have a picture of what participants will be collecting or a picture of the site, include it with your notice.

When your form is complete, email it to in .doc or .docx format. Please do not convert the form to pdf.

According to DMC rules, the field trip form must be e-mailed to the DMC Coordinator by the first of the month before the month of the trip. For example, the form must be e-mailed by March 1st for a DMC trip taking place during the month of April.

If the field trip form is not received by the evening of the 10th of the month before the month of the host club's field trip, the DMC trip for that following month will be cancelled, plus the offending club will be dropped from the program and not allowed to attend further DMC field trips for 3 months. For example, a field trip form not emailed by March 10th for the April DMC field trip would cause that club to be suspended for 3 months.

Because all member clubs have differing newsletter publishing requirements, we have been using this publishing policy. All member clubs are assumed to be well aware of all their DMC responsibilities!