Gorge Chapter Highlights – Spring/Summer 2017
The IAFI Columbia River Gorge Chapter has already had a very busy Spring/Summer, and there is more to come:
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As part of a traveling Columbia Gorge roadshow for Washington State legislators in March, we distributed materials about the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail (IAF-NGT). That’s something we should all do whenever we have a chance. - We represented the Gorge Chapter at the IAFI Board Meeting in mid-April, helping work through several issues, including deciding which features should be included in the IAF-NGT brochure being developed..
- We led another Gorge Geology field trip in late April, covering 50 MY of local geologic history in an 80 mile loop with 17 stops from Bonneville Dam to Columbia Hills State Park east of The Dalles. We explored landslides, debris flows, various flood basalt features, ancient and “recent” Ice Age floods features, even a Maar and ancient Columbia River deposits. The most common comment after the trip is, “I’ve gone past all this stuff a million times never noticing it. I’ll never look at this drive the same again.” We’re now working on a new field trip to include Mt. Adams.
- In early May we hosted a presentation, “Hell Unleashed: How Flood Basalts have shaped 3 billion years of Earth’s History” by Ellen Morris Bishop at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. It was a fantastic talk despite several technical issues.
- We led a field trip from Hood River to Portland Women’s Forum for a Road Scholar group in mid-May, and did a slide presentation in Cascade Locks for another Road Scholar group in mid-June.
- On Father’s Day in mid-June we hosted another great presentation, “Columbia River Geology Before the Dams” by USGS Geologist Jim O’Connor, that was accompanied by a traditional native salmon bake by members of the Warm Springs tribe in recognition of all fathers.
- We’re doing several field presentations, June to September, for an Oregon State University team developing a Columbia Gorge Master Naturalist program, tying in the geology from the Columbia Gorge to our beautiful stratovolcanoes.
- In late July we’re doing a “Geology of the Gorge” presentation as part of Maryhill Museum’s Summer Art Institute.
- We’re doing a presentation to the IAFI Cheney-Spokane Chapter in October, and there may be another presentation on the way there.
- We’ve been working with IAFI President, Gary Ford, on updating the IAFI newsletter format, and
- We’ve been updating the website and adding new sites to our online Floods Features Map.
YOU are welcome to join us in any activities you have a passion for. It’s a great way to enhance and share your interest and background in the Ice Age Floods. Just drop us an email to IAFI.CGC@gmail.com, or give Lloyd a call at 713-542-4359. We’ll be happy to share the fun.