This is our 6th year preparing a Year-in-Review report for you, our members. We appreciate your continued support, friendship and membership. IAFI is a non-profit organization whose main sources of income are membership dues, donations, profit from field trips and Institute Store sales. For 2022, our total income was $16,675. Our main expenses were contract labor (our membership manager) and liability insurance. For 2021, our total expenses were $9,730. At the end of 2022 we have reserves of $38,938 to cover unplanned expenses, printing informational brochures and to pursue new opportunities related to telling the floods story. 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, and by the end of 2022, as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we have 592 members (427 memberships) from 17 states and British Columbia. While we have several hundred members, most of the work is done by a small group of volunteers, including all your institute and chapter leaders. We welcome anyone interested in helping develop and conduct our programs., so if you are interested please contact us at IAFInstitute@gmail.com or reach out to your chapter president or one of our board of directors.
INSTITUTE PROGRAMS
This year, while continuing to host zoom presentations, we started to have more in-person activities, although compared to a normal year, we had relatively few activities in community social settings, such as county fairs, school programs, working with other organizations, etc. We have continued our 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. We have significantly increased our online outreach, typically garnering thousands of views each week through interesting articles and features on our Facebook, website and newsletters, while our local chapter programs are possibly the most effective way we meet this challenge with lectures, field trips, hikes and presentations.
LECTURES
During 2022 we had both on-line Zoom presentations and in-person lectures. Over 500 people attended 18 on-line lectures and hundreds more viewed them when they were posted on YouTube. We had 27 in-person lectures which were attended by over 1200 people.
FIELD TRIPS
Ellensburg chapter hosted two field trips: 1) Glacier Lake Foster on the Waterville Plateau and 2) Landforms and Landscapes of the Swauk Watershed.
Lake Missoula chapter hosted a field trip to the Bison Range.
Coeur du Deluge chapter conducted a walking field trip with Farragut State Park Docents to increase their knowledge of local Ice Age Floods features, emphasizing the location of these features within Farragut Park, how these features were formed, and how they influenced land use, transportation and recreational use.
Palouse Falls Chapter hosted a field trip to Palouse Falls.
Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter hosted several field trips: 1) Talk and field trip for the Tobacco Root Geological Society, 2) Field trip focusing on the Geology of the Wenatchee Valley, 3) Geology of the Leavenworth/Lake Wenatchee area.
HIKES
Palouse Falls chapter hosted a hike/lecture on the Age of Quartzite Buttes in the Palouse Region.
Lake Lewis chapter hosted a hike/lecture to Twin Sisters in Wallula Junction. Quite cold and windy but a cool experience.
Cheney-Spokane chapter hosted 3 hikes: 1) Dishman Hills Area, 2) along a proposed trail that the Spokane conservation District would like to develop, and 3) a geologic hike that explored the new Waikiki Springs Conservation Area on the Little Spokane River in conjunction with the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy.
Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter hosted a hike/talk to Dean Stone Mountain.
PRESENTATIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS
To help people learn about the floods we are continually developing new ways of communicating information to people. Some examples from 2022:
Our Board of Directors Education Committee has been working on developing a 4th grade curriculum about the Ice Age Floods.
Lake Lewis Chapter and The Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site near Kennewick – Approximately 3000 people, mostly elementary school kids on school field trips, including quite a few homeschoolers, visited the mammoth site that we are excavating. The mammoth is buried in Ice Age Floods graded beds, so as we study the mammoth’s burial, we also study the floods. The stories are intertwined; hence each talk must include the Floods story. Many other kids came to the site on youth group field trips or accompanied their parents at community events. About 1000 adults and some kids also visited with us at various community events such as Heritage Days at Sacajawea State Park, The SandHill Crane Festival in Othello, The Richland Library, The Reach Interpretive Center, River Fest at Columbia Park in Kennewick and more.
Cheney-Spokane Chapter – Presented the floods story in 20-minute segments to three fourth grade classes with the Science Coordinator for Jefferson Elementary School, and exhibited at the Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival at Medical Lake, WA, visiting with 147 people.
Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter – Hosted a booth and tent at the city-wide walk-in Fort Missoula Spring Event for many passersby, and continued preparations to install glacial Lake Missoula high water indicator rocks throughout the area.
Coeur du Deluge Chapter – Led a four-hour tour in conjunction with the Idaho Master Naturalist Program on the Shawnodese tour boat along the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille and into the Clark Fork River delta viewing the Purcell trench, the location of the ice dam and the steep wall carved by the glaciation.
Columbia River Gorge Chapter – Worked to redesign and rebuild the IAFI.org website, andcreated new Conference displays for IAFI.
Lower Grand Coulee Chapter – Hosted a booth at the Ice Age Floods Fest at the Dry Falls Visitor Center, and one at the Quincy Farmer Consumer Awareness Day with IAFI talks and tours, videos and info displays.
Palouse Falls Chapter – Hosted an information booth at STEAM night at Lacrosse School and at the Grand Opening of remodeled Connell branch for Mid-Columbia Libraries, participated in Neighbor meeting Neighbor booth in Washtucna, a booth at Wheatland Fair, and a chapter appreciation picnic at Palouse Falls.
PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
We are always looking for other organizations to work with. This is a great way to share resources and knowledge. Some of the organizations we have worked with include:
National Park Service – We work closely with the NPS Manager of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. He attends most of our Board meetings and other significant events.
Wenatchee – Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, Port of Quincy, Othello Sandhill Crane Festival
Coeur Du Deluge – Idaho Master Naturalist Program
Lake Lewis– 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; VISIT Spokan
Palouse Falls – Whitman County Library, Lower Columbia Libraries, Lacrosse Community Pride
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