Welcome to Field Notes.

SharkToothIsland.org is built in layers.

The Field Guide is the evergreen part — the stable, reference-grade resource for visiting the island, identifying what you find, and understanding the place. Those pages are meant to be accurate for a long time. They get updated, but they don't go stale.

Field Notes is the other part.

This section is for the observations, conditions, and small useful additions that don't quite fit as their own permanent pillar page. Things like:

• —Seasonal conditions notes when they matter.
• —Short educational pieces on one specific thing.
• —History snippets pulled from local research.
• —Observations from actual trips — what was surfacing, what wasn't.
• —Technique notes that are too specific for the main guide.
• —Small resource additions — maps, reference links, useful bits.

What it is not is a blog. There's no content schedule, no SEO churn, no obligation to post just because it's been a while. An entry goes up when there's something actually worth writing.

Why Split the Site This Way

Because a fossil-hunting destination has two timescales.

The fossils are ancient. The teeth, the shell beds, the bourlettes, the anatomy — those don't change. They deserve stable, authoritative pages you can link to and trust. The Field Guide is where that lives.

But the island is a working part of a working river. Tides, seasons, water levels, which shoreline is productive that month, which access point is open, what surfaced after a storm — that stuff moves. Pretending otherwise would make the site less honest and less useful.

Field Notes is the place where the current state of things gets written down.

What's Coming

The evergreen pillar pages are being built out one at a time. How to Visit and the history piece are already up. Fossil vs Shell, How to Find Shark Teeth, Shark Tooth Anatomy, and Can You Keep What You Find are on the list.

Alongside those, Field Notes will start accumulating shorter entries — the first real conditions note, a history snippet or two, the occasional technique piece. No schedule, no filler.

If you want to get these when they post, there's a list you can join at the bottom of any page. If not, bookmark the site. It's the same place either way.