All IAFI

Name: POSTPONED Until August 2027: Bretz Was Right: A Pre‑Birthday Floods‑Fest
Start: 2027-08-28T10:00:00-07:00
End: 2027-08-28T14:00:00-07:00

September 2026
Lake Lewis Chapter Lecture: Lake Lewis with George Last

September 1 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm PDT

The Reach Museum 1943 Columbia Park Trl , WA, Richland, WA, United States

The Lake Lewis Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a chapter meeting and guest lecture with George Last on September 1st, 2026. This presentation will continue the 2026 lecture theme as we explore flood stories along the path from ancient Lake Missoula to the Pacific Ocean. This lecture will feature discussions on our own local feature - Lake Lewis! George Last will discuss the importance of Lake Lewis to our understanding of the Ice Age Floods that repeatedly inundated the Tri-City area. He will examine some of the early geologic studies, Lake Lewis’s pivotal role in the debate over these cataclysmic floods, and some of the latest data from the Tri-City area. This event will be hosted at the REACH Museum in Richland, Washington and is free to the public. No registration required. This event will also be broadcast live. Instructions for joining the Zoom meeting are provided below. Chapter Meeting: 6:30 - 7:00 PM (PST) Guest Lecture w/ George Last: 7:00 - 8:00 PM (PST) IAFI Lake Lewis is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83661698442?pwd=RRRuYBesmkahOmauwKwSTpJKWPtFlq.1 Meeting ID: 836 6169 8442 Passcode: 284528 Questions may be emailed to lakelewis@iafi.org

Free
Free ‘Night Sky Over Cottonwood Canyon’ Dark Skies Presentation and Night Telescope Viewing

September 12 @ 7:00 pm - September 13 @ 12:00 pm PDT

Cottonwood Canyon State Park OR-206 Highway, near Wasco, OR, United States

Night Sky Over Cottonwood Canyon, a free presentation and night telescope viewing by Dark Skies leader and Gorge Chapter member Mike McKeag, will be held at Cottonwood Canyon, State Park (near Wasco, Oregon) on Saturday, Sept. 12, beginning at 7:00 PM. The evening will begin with a short presentation by park ranger, Stan Petersen, on light pollution, followed by Mike's presentation linking objects in that night's sky with historical and geological events. Mike will describe the stages of twilight, and then some of the night sky objects' distances form us, when the light we observe that night started on its way to us, and their availability for observation as the sky darkens. He'll then relate that time to events in human or geological history, such as the geological history exposed in the canyon walls. For more distant objects the events are geological. The last event is emplacement of the Grand Ronde basalts exposed in the canyon walls of Cottonwood Canyon (~16 mya), corresponding to the departure time of light from the spiral galaxy M94, 16 M light years distant. The presentations will end as we are entering nautical twilight and brighter stars are beginning to appear. Rose City Astronomers volunteers will be there with their telescopes, sharing views of these and other objects available to view that night, as well as pointing out several of the constellations that will be visible. This event is free and open to the public, with attendees of all ages welcome. Pre-registration, however is required and free overnight tent camping will be available in the Day Use Area for this event. Cottonwood Canyon State Park is a popular, certified International Dark Sky Park with several hiking paths, interesting geology, birding and other flora and fauna. The park straddles the lower John Day River so there's good fishing and a boat launch access at J.S. Burres just across the river. You can take advantage of this opportunity to explore an exceptional area. Note: Cottonwood Canyon State Park is remote. There is no food, fuel or other services nearby. Please plan ahead thoughtfully for your trip. Star Party may be cancelled if bad weather or lack of volunteers with telescopes are not available.
Landforms of the Channeled Scablands

September 17 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm PDT

Connell Library 118 N. Columbia, Connell, Washington

Take a tour of the channeled scablands identifying the diversity of landforms in our area answering the question— ‘Where do we find them and how did they form?” The viewer will leave with a greater appreciation of our unique geomorphology and be able to identify the landforms as they travel through the scablands.
The Bretz Field Notes – New Discoveries and Insights

September 23 @ 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm PDT

Whitman County Library 102 South Main St., Colfax, WA, United States

Glenn Cruickshank, Vice President of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter will give this interesting presentation. Glenn and CWU professor Nick Zentner read over 1,000 field notes of J Harlen Bretz. With these notes, they geolocated over 1,660 sites. This gives us an understanding of the sites Bretz visited and his thought process of interpreting what he saw in the scablands of eastern Washington and Oregon.
October 2026
Cheney-Spokane Members Meeting and Public Lecture 2026

October 10 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm PDT

Doris Morrison Learning Center (DMLC) 1330 S Henry Road, Greenacres, Washington

This event is open to the public, but only IAFI Cheney-Spokane members can vote during the member meeting. It will be held in the Liberty Lake area at the Doris Morrison Learning Center at 1330 S. Henry Road. Exit the freeway south on Barker Road, turn left at the roundabout at Sprague Road, then right at the three-way junction on Henry Road. Saltese Uplands Conservation Area hike: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Short Member meeting: 2:00-2:15 PM Speaker: Glenn Cruickshank (a.k.a., Google Earth by Glenn) (beginning after the Member meeting) "Dating Erratics -- an IAFI-funded project -- the results!" Synopsis: The Spokane Chapter of the IAFI is partnering with a University of Massachusetts research team to locate and study glacial erratics near the Ice Age Floods breakout zone in North Idaho and eastern Washington. These boulders—stranded high on hillsides as the floods tore through the region—hold important clues about when and where the floodwaters moved. By determining the ages of these erratics, researchers can better reconstruct the timing and pathways of the cataclysmic events that shaped our landscape. Note: At present, we have openings on our chapter board. Our board meets the second Tuesday of each month from 10 AM- 12 PM at the Cheney Depot in Cheney. Interested? Members with expertise in accounting or K-12 education or medical experience or any other expertise that would aid our chapter's mission should send a very brief vita to Dr. Linda McCollum, President, IAFI Cheney-Spokane Chapter, lmccollum@ewu.edu Please use the button below to sign up for the event and optional hike. Your registration helps us plan more smoothly and ensure a great experience for everyone. For those coming on the hike, please download and fill out this form for each participant, and bring it with you to the trailhead. Liability form.
November 2026
The Missoula Floods and Other Geological Happenings in the Columbia River Gorge

November 3 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm PST

The Reach Museum 1943 Columbia Park Trl , WA, Richland, WA, United States

The Lake Lewis Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a chapter meeting and guest lecture with Jim O’Connor, U.S. Geological Survey - Portland, Oregon on November 3rd, 2026. This presentation will round out the 2026 lecture theme as we explore flood stories along the path from ancient Lake Missoula to the Pacific Ocean. Starting with J Harlen Bretz and Ira Williams in 1915, geologists have been on the trail of the Missoula floods in the Columbia River Gorge. This work continues, addressing lingering and new questions, such as how many, how big, when, from where, and what did they do? Jim will summarize the current state of understanding, as well as other Columbia River Gorge stories being worked on by the USGS mapping group. This event will be hosted at the REACH Museum in Richland, Washington and is free to the public. No registration required. This event will also be broadcast live. This event will be updated with instructions for joining online. Chapter Meeting: 6:30 – 7:00 PM (PST) Guest Lecture w/ Jim O'Connor: 7:00 – 8:00 PM (PST) Questions may be emailed to lakelewis@iafi.org

Free
August 2027
POSTPONED Until August 2027: Bretz Was Right: A Pre‑Birthday Floods‑Fest

August 28, 2027 @ 10:00 am - 2:00 pm PDT

Update on 5/21/26: Sorry, but due to a heavy summer schedule we've had to postpone this event until next year to give us more time to plan. Our Cheney-Spokane chapter is planning a special late‑summer gathering on Saturday, August 28, 2027 in honor of J Harlen Bretz, whose birthday falls just a few days later (September 2). Bretz’s groundbreaking work on the Ice Age floods reshaped the scientific understanding of the Northwest—and we think that deserves a celebration. We’re still shaping the details, but expect a relaxed, community‑friendly event that highlights the Bretz legacy and the remarkable landscapes he helped the world understand. More information will be posted as plans develop. He mapped the scablands bold and bright, Said “Floods did this!” with all his might. For thirty years they told him “No”… ’Til evidence began to flow. So join us as we celebrate The man who made the floods make sense — A pre‑birthday bash for J Harlen Bretz, Who proved the skeptics wrong (immense!).

All IAFI

September 2026

Lake Lewis Chapter Lecture: Lake Lewis with George Last

Free ‘Night Sky Over Cottonwood Canyon’ Dark Skies Presentation and Night Telescope Viewing

Landforms of the Channeled Scablands

The Bretz Field Notes – New Discoveries and Insights

October 2026

Cheney-Spokane Members Meeting and Public Lecture 2026

November 2026

The Missoula Floods and Other Geological Happenings in the Columbia River Gorge

August 2027

POSTPONED Until August 2027: Bretz Was Right: A Pre‑Birthday Floods‑Fest

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