IAFI 2024 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

A summary of IAFI’s 2024 activities for our members and other interested people. This is our 8th year preparing a Year-in-Review report for you, our members.  We appreciate your continued support, friendship and membership.  Gary Ford – IAFI President, January 4, 2025

INSTITUTE MEMBERSHIP
Our members provide most of our support and much of the reason for the various materials, activities and events we provide.  In 1996, we started with 11 members. At the end of 2024, we have 587 members (451 memberships). In addition to the members in the IAFI states (WA, OR, ID, MT), we have members in 16 other states as well as BC Canada and Loerrach, Germany (which is in the very southwest of Germany near Basel and the Swiss Border). West of the Mississippi we have members in CA, NV, AZ, WY, TX, AK, NM and OK. East of the Mississippi there is love of ice age floods in MD, GA, IL, TN, MA, FL, VA and PA.

INSTITUTE BOARD PROJECTS
IAFI work activities occur at both the Institute Board of Director level and at the Chapter level.  Projects at the Institute board level generally benefit more than one chapter or do work that all chapters might not be able to do by themselves.  Listed below are some of the recent projects the Institute Board of Directors has worked on:

• The Education Committee is working on a curriculum for four 20-minute floods videos for a 4th grade audience
• The Membership Committee developed a catalog of speakers for the chapters to use for their member programs. 

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  The Board works closely with the National Park Service (NPS) Program Manager for the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.  The intent is to help the Trail Manager with projects related to the development of the Trail. 

• The Board has completed IAFI and Chapter history summaries in preparation for next year’s 30th anniversary.
• Our webmaster keeps our website (iafi.org) fresh and stimulating.  He also, with support from the chapters, issues the Pleistocene Post Newsletter four times a year. 
• This year the Cheney-Spokane Chapter created a significant amount of new content for the website, including a page with geolocated maps of J Harlen Bretz’s and Joseph Pardee’s field notes.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
This year the annual IAFI membership meeting and field trip was hosted by the Cheney-Spokane Chapter and was held in the Spokane Valley area.  Approximately 100 people attended the event. Follow this link for a summary of that event.

2024 CHAPTER PROGRAMS
Outreach to inform and educate the public about the Ice Age Floods and their long-lasting impact on our area is a key part of the IAFI mission.  Our local chapter programs are possibly the most effective way we meet this challenge. Three of the more important ways we help people learn about the Ice Age Floods are with lectures, field trips and hikes. 

LECTURES, FIELD TRIPS AND HIKES
In 2024 we had 37 in-person lectures attended by over 1425 people.  Many more people viewed lectures when they were posted on YouTube. We conducted 22 field trips with 735 attendees and three chapters sponsored 7 hikes with 106 attendees.

PRESENTATIONS TO K-12 STUDENTS

• A number of people from the Lake Lewis Chapter help with education programs at The Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site (MCBONES) near Kennewick. This was a record year for tourism at the site. Over 4300 visitors, most of them K-12 students, learned about the ice age floods and megafauna extinction. 
• Palouse Falls Chapter: Had a booth at STEAM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Math) night at Colton School. 
• Lower Grand Coulee Chapter: Assisted with a presentation at the Ice Age Floods Fest at Dry Falls aimed at educating children on the Ice Age Floods story (350+ attendees).

INVOLVEMENT WITH PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIVERSITYS

• Cheney-Spokane Chapter: Hosted a booth at the Geological Society of America meeting in Spokane during May which was attended by several thousand professionals. The Chapter vice president led a two-day trip which was attended by a dozen of the leading professionals on the ice age floods.
• Wenatchee Chapter: Assisted Dr. Vic Baker with his University of Arizona graduate student trip to the Scablands.
• Columbia Gorge Chapter – Co-led a number of field trips sponsored by the Oregon State University Extension Master Naturalist Program.
• Coeur Du Deluge Chapter – Led programs for the Idaho Native Plant Society.
• All chapters routinely recruit extremely knowledgeable speakers from universities or state/federal agencies so we are presenting the most current information to our members.

PRESENTATIONS FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS

• Cheney-Spokane Chapter – In February, the chapter talked with over 100 people at Great Outdoors Expo Exhibit in Spokane. Presented four lectures at Spokane County Library units.  All four talks had standing room only. The library district asked the chapter to do four more talks in 2025 which have been scheduled.
• Columbia River Gorge Chapter – Completed work on the Cherry Orchard Trail Recording and Dedication. 
• Ellensburg Chapter: had information booths at three Ellensburg Farmers Markets. Spoke with about 300 people.
• Lower Grand Coulee Chapter: Had a booth at the Quincy Farmer Consumer Awareness Day with IAFI talks and tours, videos and information displays. 200+ attendees. Developed a 3-D topographic model with lights of the floods area for use at community events.
• Palouse Falls Chapter: Presented lecture on the floods and conducted a tour at the Sandhill Crane Festival.
• Wenatchee Chapter: Co-led a tour at the Sandhill Crane Festival and participated in FCAD Farmer Consumer Awareness days in Quincy.

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
We are always looking for other organizations to work with. This is a great way to share resources and knowledge.  Listed below are some of the organizations we have worked with:

• Wenatchee – Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, Port of Quincy, Othello Sandhill Crane Festival
• Coeur Du Deluge – Idaho Master Naturalist Program, Idaho Native Plant Society
• Lake Lewis– MCBONES Mammoth Site, Friends of Badger Mountain, Benton County Parks, The Hanford Reach Interpretative Center, Visit Tri-Cities, East Benton County Historical Museum, Franklin County Historical Museum
• Cheney-Spokane – Spokane Riverfront Park board, Ice Age Floods Playground
• Palouse Falls – Whitman County Library, Lower Columbia Libraries, Lacrosse Community Pride, Sandhill Crane Festival
• Lower Columbia – Tualatin Heritage Center, City of Tualatin, Tualatin Chamber of Commerce, Tualatin Ice Age Foundation, Friends of Vista House
• Columbia River Gorge – Oregon Master Naturalist Program, Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, Vista House
• Glacial Lake Missoula – Montana Natural History Center
• Lower Grand Coulee – Coulee Corridor Consortium- Coulee Corridor National Scenic Byway; Coulee Corridor Area State Parks; Columbia Basin Trails Association. 

INSTITUTE FINANCES
The IAFI is a non-profit organization. Our main sources of income are membership dues, donations, profit from field trips and Institute Store sales.  Our main expenses are contract labor (our membership manager), and insurance.   At the end of 2024 the IAFI Board managed funds had a balance of $64,675.  The eleven chapter managed funds had a total balance of $102,929. These funds are available for new and existing educational programs related to the floods story as well as to cover unplanned expenses. 

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
While we have over six hundred members most of the work is done by a small number of people.  All of your institute and chapter leaders are volunteers. We are always looking for people willing to work with us to help develop and conduct chapter programs.  If you think you might be interested, please contact your chapter president or board members. All help is appreciated both small and large.