Ice Age Floods...

National Geologic Trail has been established by the US Senate yesterday (but it still has to pass in the House.) The bill includes:

Promotion of a spectacular chapter in our state’s geologic history: the Ice Age Floods. The multiple floods more than 12,000 years ago occurred when an ice dam in today’s Idaho repeatedly broke and emptied massive Lake Missoula. The floods created the unique geology of Eastern Washington and, most significantly, cut the Columbia River Gorge through the Cascade Mountains.

The bill authorizes an Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail through parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The National Park Service will manage the trail that will include interpretive centers, signs and markers, exhibits and roadside pullouts to tell the story of the floods. Both education and tourism interests will be well-served by the Ice Age trail, and we hope final plans will include Vancouver as a significant point of interest on the floods’ race to the ocean.

EWU geology professor emeritus Gene Kiver has been involved in designing the trail system. Thanks, Gene, for your diligent efforts.