Until his discovery of fossil footprints at Brule, Nova Scotia, fossils were only a casual interest for Howard van Allen. In his opinion, in order to be a good fossil finder a person should be in it for the fun, rather than with the specific goal of making a major discovery. Many important discoveries are accidental. "You never know what you'll find," he says.

Howard's fine arts background has been a great help in his work at the Brule fossil site, where he makes casts of the trackways and sculpts models of the animals that may have made the footprints. The excitement of discovery, challenges of working at the site and feeling of connection with the history of the earth fuel his work and fire his imagination. He enjoys the challenge of fighting the tide (and time itself) to learn as much as possible before the fossil record is destroyed by the water and the weather.