Mike Triebold, owner of Triebold Paleontology and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, Colo., was elected president of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences (AAPS) on Feb. 4. at the annual AAPS meeting in Tucson, Ariz. Organized in 1978, the AAPS is a professional association of commercial fossil dealers, collectors, enthusiasts, and academic paleontologists for the purpose of promoting ethical collecting practices and cooperative liaisons with researchers, instructors, curators and exhibit managers in the paleontological academic and museum community.

New initiatives were launched at the board meeting in Tucson including establishing a Lease/License Task force to author agreements for member use in solidifying relationships with landowners with the ultimate goal of avoiding misunderstandings by addressing potential problems in advance.

The AAPS also is developing a journal to include the establishment of a fossil registry and a series of articles on how different specimens have been collected.