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New K-12 Micro-Grants for Teachers & Students Launching January 2026
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Micro-grants of $100-$500 for K-12 educators and students
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Bringing the Ice Age Floods Into the Classroom
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Application Period Opens January 5, 2026
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The Ice Age Floods Institute is launching an exciting new K-12 Scholar Support Grant Program — offering $100–$500 micro-grants to help teachers and students bring the Ice Age Floods story to life in classrooms and communities across the Northwest.
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We know that explaining the floods can be challenging without the right tools. These grants are designed to remove barriers and spark curiosity by helping fund:
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Classroom materials & guest speakers
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Science fair projects and visual displays
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Field trips to Ice Age Floods sites
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Hands-on exploration and research
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Dec 2025 – Application info available at IAFI.org
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Jan 5, 2026 – Applications open
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Mar 15, 2026 – 2026 Application Deadline
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Apr 10, 2026 – 2026-27 Awards announced
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When students become passionate about the floods, they don’t just learn — they teach others. They become ambassadors, sharing what they’ve discovered with families and friends, spreading awareness far beyond the classroom.
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Help Us Grow This Program
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IAFI and our 11 chapters are committing $5,000 annually to launch this effort,
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With member support, we can reach even more students, classrooms, and communities. Your donations will directly fund real-world education — one classroom, one science fair, one budding geologist at a time.
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Let’s make history come alive — together.
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Applications and donation links will be available at IAFI.org by December 2025.
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Share the Ice Age Floods story this Christmas! The IAFI Store's Winter Inventory Reduction Sale is here – and it's your chance to dive deep and share the story of these spectacular events.
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We're making room for exciting new items, which means steep discounts of 10% to over 40% on a selection of Ice Age Floods merchandise. Whether you're shopping for the Floods enthusiast in your life, a curious student, or treating yourself to something extraordinary, now's the perfect time to explore the fascinating world of the cataclysmic floods that carved the Pacific Northwest.
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What Makes This Sale Special?
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From educational materials that bring ancient catastrophes to life, to unique gifts that celebrate the power of water and ice, our collection offers something for every curious mind. These aren't just presents – they're gateways to understanding the massive forces that shaped our landscape thousands of years ago.
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As an added gift for you, every order comes with a free IAFI window decal – your badge of honor showing you're passionate about the incredible science behind the Ice Age Floods story. It's more than just merchandise; it's a conversation starter about one of the world's most dramatic chapters.
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Limited time only. Shop now while inventory lasts and discover why the Ice Age Floods continue to captivate scientists and nature lovers alike.
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Ready to explore? Visit the IAFI Store today and make this Christmas a journey into the catastrophic world of the Ice Age Floods.
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Explore - Things to See and Do
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Strewn among the forests of the Puget Lowland are an impressive array of Glacial Erratics. Although technically erratics include small pebbles and even sand grains in till, people tend to get the most excited by really big erratics- those the size of a house or building. Whatever their size, glacial erratics often reveal the direction of the ice flow that ripped them from their source region and deposited them at their resting place. Erratics can also help determine the thickness of the ice sheet that deposited them.
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In the Seattle area, it is relatively straightforward to determine the provenance of erratics containing quartzite, as that rock can not be found anywhere in the Olympics, the Cascades, or in the native bedrock of the Puget Lowland. Quartzite, which is durable and resistant to weathering, is commonly found in river valleys of central British Columbia and in the glacial tills of the Puget Lowland. However, granodiorite erratics found in the lowland and on the slopes of the Olympics and Cascades can be more difficult to decipher. The granodiorite in these erratics is chemically similar to rock bodies both in the British Columbia Coast Mountains and in the Cascades.
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In the mountains east of Bellingham, erratics found at 5,000 ft of elevation imply that the thickness of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice sheet was at least 5,000 ft thick at that location. Maps showing the thickness of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet at various places in Western Washington are drawn, in part, by looking at the depositional altitude of erratics on ridges around the region.
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The two most massive erratics in the Puget Lowland are composed of Greenschist metamorphic rock.
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The Waterman Erratic, Photo by Dan Coe, Washington DNR
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One of the giant erratics of Western Washington hides in the forest in Saratoga Woods Park on Whidbey Island. The Waterman erratic is 38ft high and has a circumference of 135 ft. Analysis of the rock shows that it is composed of Greenschist, a rock containing the low grade metamorphic minerals Chlorite and Epidote. The Greenschist chemically matches the rock of Mt. Erie, a prominent Roche Moutonée found 40 miles to the north on Fidalgo Island.
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The Lake Stevens Erratic, Photo courtesy of KING Broadcasting
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An even larger erratic can be seen in a suburban neighborhood near Everett. The Lake Stevens erratic, 34 ft tall with a circumference of 210 ft, is considered the largest erratic in the Northwest, and possibly the largest erratic in the United States. This erratic is also composed of a Greenschist, although chemical analysis cannot give us a definitive origin for the big rock. There is similar Greenschist on the northern tip of Whidbey Island at Deception Pass, around Mt. Shuksan in the North Cascades, and also up the Fraser River in British Columbia.
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IN THE CITY OF ELLENSBURG...when you want to spend some time indoors, a great place to visit is the KITTITAS VALLEY HISTORICAL MUSEUM. It has about 30,000 items from which more than 50 exhibits and displays are chosen. The mission of the museum is to "Collect, Preserve and Share the History, Heritage, and Culture of Kittitas County" In experiencing it you feel a strong connection to the Pacific Northwest.
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Collection highlights include:
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- Indigenous cultural items (especially from the K'tɨ́taas and Pshwánapam bands). Note the roots here for the local names of Kittitas and Wanapum.
- Geological specimens, including Ellensburg Blue Agate
- Some fossilized animals
- Household goods, textiles, and furnishings
- Military memorabilia and service records
- Historic photographs and albums
- Agricultural tools and equipment
- Business records and local commerce material
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Even the building itself is interesting. Built of brick, it was constructed after the Great Ellensburg Fire of July 4, 1889. (There is an exhibit about that fire and its devastation to the town).
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Some examples of what you will see:
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So, if you are so inclined, spend some time and enjoy.
The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
The address is 114 E. 3rd Ave. Ellensburg
Admission is free and donations are accepted.
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Article by Mike Doran: of the Ice Age Floods Institute Ellensburg Chapter President
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Science in the News
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To feed our members' interest in life-long learning, we share information about the Floods and other science topics. Use our online form to submit an article or question that others might appreciate.
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Stabilizing Hanford Nuclear Waste
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For much of the 20th century, a sprawling complex in the desert of southeastern Washington state turned out most of the plutonium used in the nation's nuclear arsenal, from the first atomic bomb to the arms race that fueled the Cold War.
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Now, after decades of planning and billions of dollars of investment, the site is turning liquid nuclear and chemical waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation into a much safer substance: glass.
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State regulators on Wednesday issued the final permit Hanford needed for workers to remove more waste from often-leaky underground tanks, mix it in a crucible with additives, and heat it above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 Celsius).The mixture then cools in stainless steel vats and solidifies into glass — still radioactive, but far more stable to keep in storage, and less likely to seep into the soil or the nearby Columbia River.
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The long-awaited development is a key step in cleaning up the nation's most polluted nuclear waste site. Construction on the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant began in 2002.
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“We are at the precipice of a really significant moment in Hanford’s history,” said Casey Sixkiller, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, in a video interview.
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Article by Cedar Attanasio reprinted from MSN
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The first people to arrive in the Western Hemisphere were Indigenous Americans, who were descended from an ancestral group of Ancient North Siberians and East Asians. They likely traveled along the Bering Land Bridge by land or sea.
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When the first Americans arrived is a source of ongoing debate. Several studies suggest that a series of fossilized human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico date to sometime between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. That dates them to the coldest part of the last ice age, the last glacial maximum (which lasted from around 26,500 to 19,000 years ago), when the northern part of the continent was covered in glaciers and ice sheets.
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Other controversial studies suggest even earlier dates. For example, one study dated stone artifacts in Chiquihuite Cave, in Mexico, to more than 30,000 years ago. However, it's unclear if humans actually crafted these rocks or if they formed naturally that way, making the finding uncertain.
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Cerutti Mastadon Bones 130KYA
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Other studies go back much further. In 2017, a controversial study in the journal Nature reported mastodon bones in California that may have been modified by humans around 130,000 years ago. However, other archaeologists have expressed concerns about the excavation of this finding and noted that other natural events or animals could have modified the bones.
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To put the 130,000-year-old date into context, the earliest evidence for Homo sapiens dates to around 300,000 years ago in Morocco, while the earliest evidence for a successful migration of humans into Asia was more than 100,000 years ago and the earliest evidence of successful human migration into Europe was around 55,000 years ago.
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Recognizing IAFI Volunteers
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Volunteers are a mainstay of the IAFI organization, both in our leadership and our chapter members who help keep things working on the local level. We want to recognize some of those volunteers who give selflessly of themselves for the good of our entire organization and for the public in general.
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Julie Bishop is a founding member of the Coeur du Deluge Chapter of the ice Age Floods Institute and the only continuous member of the Chapter. She has served as Treasurer of our chapter for at least 15 years. Her service to the Coeur Du Deluge Chapter goes way beyond taking care of our financial needs. Julie was and is always there supporting our chapter’s activities (public lectures, field trips and the distribution of IAF-related educational material). She did and does this cheerfully and efficiently. She somehow finds time for our chapter even though she has a full-time job with the Idaho Department of Highways. She has another full-time job at home taking care of the family farm, especially their horses.
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Julie casually brushes off her contributions to IAFI and Coeur du Deluge, saying that although she did some of the “legwork to start the chapter” the ultimate responsibility for the creation of our chapter was based on the long time flood interest of her friends and co-founders of the CDD Chapter: Kermit Kiebert, Jon Burkhart and Mark Heisel. She continually underplays her contributions. But that is the grace and charm of our Julie Bishop. Thanks for your unstinting service Julie, it’s truly appreciated!
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Lower Columbia Chapter/Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) is privileged to recognize our outstanding volunteer, Yvonne Addington, who has always been there for us, doing so much for our Chapter, and that’s been lots!
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Yvonne Addington looks to the future and connects people to make things happen. Even before the Ice Age Floods Institute was formed Yvonne was an Ice Age fan and was storing the bones of a mastodon dug up in Tualatin, Oregon. Tualatin decided to become an ice age destination and Yvonne was one of the most enthusiastic supporters. In many instances she was the driving force or one of a team of people who made the ice age theme come alive in Tualatin.
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If you dig into Tualatin’s many ice age interpretive displays, public artwork, artifacts like prehistoric animal bones and erratic rocks, you will find Yvonne’s impact.
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- She arranged many of the donations to the Tualatin Public Library ice age displays including the mastodon which Yvonne stored for many years before it found a suitable home in the Tualatin Public Library.
- She supported the work of making Tualatin the first partner of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.
- She spearheaded the renaming of the Tonquin Trail to the Ice Age Tonquin Trail.
- The Tualatin River Greenway Trail, with its many ice age displays and interpretive signs, has an “Yvonne Addington Overlook” named in her honor for her extraordinary contributions to the mission of parks and recreation in Tualatin.
- She arranged the donation and transport of a 20,000 lb. granite boulder and a 5,500 lb. quartzite boulder to the Tualatin Historical Center.
- She encouraged the donation of a 9’ bronze mastodon statue at the Nyberg Rivers mall.
- She is a founding member of the Tualatin Ice Age Foundation which is working on the future creation of a Willamette Valley Ice Age Interpretive Center.
- She is an advocate for the preservation of Ice Age fossils, having kept them from being destroyed by identifying places where they can be adequately displayed, not only at Tualatin Heritage Center, but in larger venues including the proposed Ice Age Floods Interpretive Center and the now completed rebuilding of the West Linn City Hall.
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In addition to her long established career in public service at so many levels, including judgeship and public administration, she has played a significant role in our Lower Columbia Chapter. When we needed a new home for our featured speaker meetings she was there for us, bringing us into the Tualatin Heritage Center on the third Thursday of each month at 7PM. Today Yvonne is a respected member of the Lower Columbia Chapter Board of Directors.
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Saturday, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM No cost • Car caravan format • BYO food & drinks
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Karl Lillquist will lead "East of Coulee City" field trip on the day after Halloween. We will meet at the Coulee City Campground at 10am.
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Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit educational organization (EIN 91-1658221), founded in 1995 and recognized as an official authority on the Ice Age Floods, providing accurate, scientific-based advice to members and the public. We were instrumental in 2009 Federal legislation authorizing National Park Service designation of the
Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail (IAFNGT).
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