Sharing the Fascinating Ice Age Floods Story Since 1995

Category: Newsletter

New Superintendent for Lake Roosevelt NRA

The National Park Service has selected Devon Bradley as superintendent of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. He will assume the role October 4, 2026. Devon brings nearly three decades of military and federal government experience to the position, with extensive experience in park operations, facilities management, budgeting, project management and organizational leadership.  Since 2024, he has served as superintendent of Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma, where he also oversees Washita Battlefield National Historic Site and supports National Park Service operations at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. “Lake Roosevelt is an extraordinary place with deep connections to the Tribes, communities and people who have cared for and enjoyed this landscape for generations,” said Superintendent Devon Bradley. “I look forward to working alongside park employees and building strong relationships with Tribes, partners and surrounding communities as we protect the park’s resources and provide outstanding opportunities for visitors.” Devon joined the National Park Service in 2022 as deputy chief of facilities management at Grand Canyon National Park, where he helped manage more than 130 employees and a complex portfolio of park facilities, housing, trails and infrastructure across the 1.2-million-acre park. Prior to joining the National Park Service, Devon spent 13 years with the Department of the Army, where he held leadership positions in program management and operations, including serving as a deputy director responsible for a team of 28 program analysts and a $500 million portfolio of Department of Defense programs. He previously served 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a reconnaissance Marine, including three tours in Iraq. IAFI welcomes Devon as the new leader whose responsibilities include the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.

Nepal Flood Disaster Reconstructed Minute by Minute

This is a reconstruction of the Nepal flood disaster. New satellite imagery and video analysis show the deadly Nepal floods began when part of a glacier near the Chinese border collapsed, triggering a debris flow that raced downstream at up to 150 km/h and devastated communities over more than 80 kilometres. Scientists are still piecing together the exact sequence of events, while authorities warn the disaster may not be over as a newly formed lake upstream has started to overflow. Consider that this event was much less than 1/1000th of an Ice Age Flood, and that similar events could occur below our PacNW Cascades glaciers. There is ample geological evidence of similar massive lahars throughout our area in the not-so-distant past, including a probable lahar off Mt. Hood in the year before the Lewis and Clark Expedition of Discovery.  Courtesy FRANCE 24 English, submitted by IAFI member Rand Pierson (thank you).

Pardee Party – 2027 IAFI Membership Meeting

The next (usually) annual IAFI Membership Meeting will be a ‘Pardee Party‘ on June 11-12, 2027, in Butte and Philipsburg Montana, hosted by the Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter. What we know for now: Day 1 – Butte, MT, Membership Meeting Day 2 – Philipsburg, MT   Planning has just begun so stay tuned to the IAFI.org website for more details as they develop.

Ice Age Floods Educator Workshops Report

Every student in the Northwest should experience the incredible science story of the megafloods that shaped our landscape and history. To help bring this story to life, the Ice Age Floods Institute, Engaging Every Student, and our partners are excited to invite K–12 educators to free special training events. Thanks to support from the Avista Foundation, we are offering free hybrid workshops where you will gain access to valuable resources designed to inspire students to investigate their local environment.

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Gary Ford (1943 – 2026)

Members and the Board of Directors of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) remember fondly our long-time leader, mentor, and friend, Dr. Gary Ford, and deeply mourn his passing. Gary left us peacefully at his home on June 4, 2026 after living a full life of service, curiosity, and dedication. Born in Illinois on May 20, 1943, Gary lived it with an infectious curiosity in a journey defined by service and a profound connection to the earth. After serving in the United States Air Force, he channeled his love for the environment into a Ph.D. in Soil Conservation at Montana State University. He went on to spend a meaningful career protecting America’s most iconic landscapes as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park and later with the U.S. Forest Service. When Gary “retired,” he brought his leadership and wealth of knowledge to the Ice Age Floods Institute, first as President of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter (2009–2012), then taking the helm as Institute President from 2012 to 2026. Gary tirelessly shared and fully believed that the grand, cataclysmic geological history of the Pacific Northwest belonged to everyone. As a leader, Gary was defined by his extraordinary openness, thoughtfulness, and exceptional people management skills. He possessed a rare ability to harness a diverse Board of Directors, skillfully guiding a wide range of perspectives and building bridges toward a unified, shared vision. He was always eager to welcome new members, champion fresh ideas, support grassroots chapters, and spark a shared sense of wonder in anyone who would listen. His leadership wasn’t rigid or about titles; it was about fostering an open, collaborative community united by curiosity. Gary’s quiet strength, warmth, and gentle spirit left an indelible mark on his family, colleagues, and the landscape he spent his life protecting. Beyond his geological pursuits, Gary was a devoted family man who loved sharing adventures, laughter, and a good story. He is survived by his beloved wife, Barbara Ford; his daughter and son-in-law, Flavia and Matt Hildebrant; his grandsons, Aspen and Dylan Bergland; his sister, Luann Ford; and his cousin, Anna Belle Alshire. He famously passed his love of Star Wars down to his grandsons and was always ready with a perfectly timed Yoda quote to put life into perspective: “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” In keeping with Gary’s wishes, no formal celebration of life will be held. Instead, his family will scatter his ashes in a place that held a special, enduring meaning to him.

Celebration Park – Home of Melon Gravel

17,000 years ago, a massive Ice Age lake – now called Lake Bonneville – filled a large portion of present-day Utah. As temperatures changed, the influx of ice melt caused the lake level to rise. In addition, the Bear River, once a tributary of the Snake, was diverted by volcanic activity back into Lake Bonneville. These factors ultimately led to the breaching of a sedimentary rock dam at Red Rocks Pass, Idaho. There was only one ice-age Bonneville Flood because Lake Bonneville broke through a rock dam, unlike the Missoula Floods whose glacial ice dam repeatedly dammed Glacial Lake Missoula, then broke and rebuilt.  1,100 cubic miles of Lake Bonneville water rushed through the Snake River Canyon, and it took only six weeks for Lake Bonneville to empty the equivalent volume of modern-day Lake Michigan. The Great Salt Lake we know today is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, but at one tenth the size, it is a mere puddle compared to what the lake used to be.  The power of this catastrophic flood widened canyons as the force of the water pulled huge chunks of basalt off the cliffs and tumbled them around, smoothing their jagged edges along the way. As the canyon width narrowed, the force and velocity of the flood increased. Wherever the canyons widened, the flood lost force and velocity, the waters slowed and began dropping its bedload – in this case, giant tumbled basalt boulders instead of your typical river gravel.  These flood-rounded boulders, named melon gravel due to their distinct shape, are scattered over vast areas of land. The rocks’ unique outlines and smooth surfaces caught the eye of Native American tribes in the area, who have used them as canvases for petroglyphs for thousands of years. Visitors can see the medium sized flood deposits just outside the visitor center, or hike upriver to see gigantic melon gravel the size of heavy-duty trucks.  Celebration Park is located in the Snake River Canyon, approximately 23 miles south of Nampa, Idaho. It is home to an enormous melon gravel field deposited by the Bonneville Flood. 

Glaciers You May Never Have Heard Of!

Glaciers you’ve never heard of could be the most important climate havens. They’re called rock glaciers, and they might not look like much, but they’ll continue to provide meltwater after the world’s iconic white glaciers are gone. Rock glaciers are slow-moving masses of rock debris and ice that flow downhill the same way that glaciers do, but they are covered by a thick layer of rock and boulders that can easily be mistaken for stable ground. There are at least 1,500 active rock glaciers across the western U.S., and they’re important. That’s because while the icy white glaciers people typically picture have been shrinking and even disappearing, but a new study shows that rock glaciers and their frozen water are remaining mostly stable despite rising temperatures. The thick debris mantle shades the ice, keeping it colder. The result is that rock glaciers continue to provide meltwater for streams in summer as they always have, but they aren’t disappearing. Every year, mountain glaciers partially melt and then rebuild again as snow falls in winter. But as temperature rise, glaciers are losing more ice than they gain. The vast majority of glaciers in temperate mountain ranges like the Tetons are projected to melt away completely by the end of the century, meaning a critical source of water for mountain streams and lakes will disappear. However, where rock glaciers are present, their protected ice will continue to release meltwater into the streams below, buffering the streams against warming temperatures and drying.  Understanding how much ice is contained in rock glaciers and how fast they are likely to melt is vital to help natural resource and land managers plan for the landscapes they will be managing later this century. Researchers have found that some icy glaciers thinned by 2.75 feet per year (0.84 meters per year) between 2014 and 2022, about seven times faster than in the previous half-century. Rock glaciers, on the other hand, were close to stable, losing only about 0.16 feet (0.05 meters) per year in 2014-2022, with no change relative to the 1967-2014 period.  Having a major ice source feeding a stream has also limited the warming of that stream over the past decade. Streams fed by rock glaciers warmed slowly, by about 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) over the decade, while icy glaciers warmed by about 1 F (0.9 C). Streams that were fed by seasonal snowpack, small patches of ice and groundwater warmed more rapidly, by 6.1 F (3.4 C) over the same period. In one instance, the small snowfields feeding one of our long-term study sites largely disappeared, causing the stream below it to stop flowing by late summer. Because of this, streams fed by rock glaciers have emerged as potentially critical climate refugia – places likely to stay cooler while everything around them warms – for cold-water wildlife in high-mountain ecosystems. A wide array of species already live in the cold meltwater that emerges from rock glaciers, from stoneflies to the bull trout that eat them. As glaciers fade, the ties between cold-water animals and rock glaciers will likely only become tighter. So, the next time you’re out in the mountains, staring off into the distance, look carefully for these large fields of rock that appear to be flowing down the mountainside. And pay attention to that small trickle of meltwater emerging from the toe of the rock glacier. While meltwater from rock glaciers alone certainly won’t make up for the glaciers lost, it could help mitigate the most severe impacts where rock glaciers persist. Excerpted from an article in The Conversation by Dan McGrath and Ashlesha Khatiwada

GLM Chapter Adds to the “Route of the Rocks”

Members of the Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter recently placed two more rock markers on recreation trails located on Missoula hillsides. Both rocks were placed at 4200 feet elevation, the highest fill level of the Lake. The inscription contains IAFI’s name and logo, Glacial Lake Missoula, and the high-water elevation of 4200 feet. The rocks (known as #6 and #7) continue the “Route of the Rocks” project of previously placed rocks throughout the Missoula area. Most of the rocks are situated at 4200 feet. Missoula’s elevation is about 3200 feet, so trail users can imagine the valley completely submerged with only the highest surrounding hill tops sticking out. Number 6 is located on the Miller Trail which begins at the Little Park Creek Trailhead and parking lot, accessed via upper Miller Creek Road. Hiking distance is approximately 1.5 miles. Number 7 sits at 4200 feet on Marshall Mountain, a former ski area but now a park, in East Missoula. From the parking lot take the Easy Up Trail .6 mile to the rock. The rocks are either argillite or quartzite from the Belt Formation. An interactive trail map of the Missoula area can be found at https://missoulamaps-cityofmissoula.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/missoula-trails

NORM SMYERS, AUGUST 10, 1943-APRIL 1, 2026

Norm Smyers, 82, of Missoula, Montana, passed away at home on April 1, 2026. During the past 30 years Norm has been actively involved in the formation, direction and leadership of the Ice Age Floods Institute, and in his local Glacial Lake Missoula chapter, all of which gave him immeasurable satisfaction and pride.  Born Norman Bernard Smyers and raised in Hawthorne, California, Norm loved the beach, raced his bicycle all over the South Bay area, hiked and explored the nearby mountains and deserts. He realized at a very young age that he wanted to be a geologist, a goal likely arising from family camp trips to the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada where landforms, rocks, and fossils captivated his curiosity.  He graduated from California State College, Long Beach, followed by an MS in geology from CSU, San Diego, and much later, an MA in anthropology (his “retirement” degree) from University of Montana (always a lifelong learner). His career began with teaching high school science and math in Torrance, California, interspersed with several enjoyable summers working as a ranger/naturalist at Crater Lake National Park, Cape Perpetua/Siuslaw National Forest, the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest/Inyo National Forest, and Bryce Canyon National Park.  For thirty years, he held geologist positions with the US Geological Survey, US Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service in California, Nevada, Colorado and Montana. He also served on the Target Range Sewer and Water Board, participated in Five Valleys Audubon, and enjoyed cruising in his ’47 Ford and ’85 Corvette with local car clubs. On May 14, 2026, friends celebrated Norm’s life on the banks of the Clark Fork River, a remnant of Glacial Lake Missoula, where his ashes happily wafted, settled and mingled with the sediments. RIP Norm, your life and contributions are remembered fondly and with great respect for all you have done. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Cathryn, his companion dog Paco, and many friends and admirers.