2019 Year-End Report (January 9, 2020)
25 Years/10 Years – For twenty-five years we have been enjoying helping people of all ages and backgrounds learn about the ice age floods. For the last ten years we have also been helping people learn about the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. Our annual plan of work varies somewhat from chapter to chapter and from year to year. Listed below is a summary of some of our major Institute activities during 2019.
Institute Membership – Our members provide most of our support and much of the reason for the various materials, activities and events we provide. In 1996, we had 11 members. At the end of 2019, we had 723 members (501 memberships) from 15 states and 1 Canadian province. Some of our members have supported us for many years. We thank all of you for your continued support.
Programs for our members and other people interested in the floods – 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. Our local chapter programs are possibly the most effective way we meet this challenge. Two of the more important ways we help people learn about the Ice Age Floods are with lectures and field trips. In 2019, we sponsored 50 Lectures attended by 2327 people. We sponsored 17 Field Trips with 515 attendees. We also had 12 hikes for 142 attendees. We have also significantly increased our online outreach, typically garnering thousands of views each week of interesting articles and features through our Facebook, website and newsletters.
Participation in Community Events – Participation in community events is another great way to share our message and draw new interest to the Ice Age Floods and our organization. Again in 2019, our chapters participated with presentations and display booths at a great many community events throughout our four-state floods area. Some examples include: booths at community fairs, lectures and field trips at the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival, Cheney-Mayfest, Earth Day celebrations, Clark Fork Days, Boy Scouts of America meetings, the Maryhill Museum, and many others.
Working with schools (K-12 and higher education) – Bringing the floods’ stories to students may be the most important way we can capture the interest and involvement of new generations. Some of our activities in 2019 are listed below.
- Wenatchee chapter worked with 300 elementary students thru the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center
- The Coeur du Deluge Chapter distributed copies of their new ice age floods map to schools in the Sandpoint area.
- Lake Lewis Chapter worked with the Kennewick School District’s Community Education Program. Also worked with the WSU Tri-cities program.
- Puget Lobe Chapter did outreach for Tahoma School District: integrating floods curriculum into 10th grade science.
- Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter: worked with Meadow Hill Jr. High – combined science media and art project. A movie, a program and new floods original artwork for gym.
New educational materials – To help people learn about the floods we are continually developing new ways of communicating information to people. Here are some examples from 2019.
- All of our chapters now have new high quality brochures with highlighted floods features in their area. We also have an updated IAFI brochure.
- The Institute is continuing work on our Floods Features on-line exploration map.
- Bruce Bjornstad has submitted his new coffee-table sized book entitled: Ice Age Floodscapes of the Pacific Northwest: A Visual Portrait to his publisher (Springer-Nature). It consists of about 180 pages of world-class photographs of ice-age floods features from throughout the floods area. It will be an instant classic and we are anxiously waiting its release. We will let you know about this with a post on our website as soon as it is available.
- Nick Zentner from Central Washington University continues to delight and inform us about the geology of Washington with his internet series Nick on the Rocks.
- Wenatchee – is working on a new display for Butte and Basin topography on Babcock bench.
- Coeur du Deluge – released a two-sided geologic map in honor of Roy Breckenridge. Side One: Glacial Geologic Map of North Idaho and Side Two: Shaded Relief map of northern Idaho and parts of western Montana and eastern Washington.
- Lake Lewis – three new floodscape videos by Bruce Bjornstad have been posted on YouTube. The chapter is assisting with interpretive signs for Candy Mountain.
- Cheney-Spokane – installed interpretive signs for Ice Age Floods playground, Riverfront Park, Spokane, WA
- Columbia River Gorge – developed 1 new IAFI Brochure and 11 new IAFI chapter brochures, and a major update to an interactive floodscapes exploration map on the website
- Glacial Lake Missoula – developed a summary video for a new display that illustrates the filling, dam failure and draining of Glacial Lake Missoula. Detailed videos are synched to lesson plans teachers can use in the classroom.
Partnerships and collaboration with other organizations – We are always looking for other organizations to work with. This is a great way to share resources and knowledge. Here are some of the organizations we worked with in 2019. We thank them for sharing our interest in the Ice Age Floods.
- Wenatchee – Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, Port of Quincy (Babcock Bench), 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
- 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
- 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
Promoting Tourism – All of our chapters now have new, high quality brochures that are sure to be used by many visitors. Some other examples of chapter activities promoting tourism are listed below.
- Cheney – Spokane Chapter – Spokane Riverfront Park Board, Ice Age Floods Playground
- Palouse Falls Chapter – IAFI Museum in Lacrosse
- Columbia River Gorge Chapter–IAFI and chapter brochures and website maps
- Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter – Kalispell Western Posse, Seeley community group, Big Fork Group
- Lower Columbia Chapter – partner with the city of Tualatin
- Lake Lewis Chapter – continuing to work with Visit Tri-Cities
Institute Finances – The IAFI is a non-profit organization. Our main sources of income are membership dues, donations, profit from field trips and Institute Store sales. For 2019, our total income was $31,072. Our main expenses are field trip expenses, twice yearly board meetings, contract labor (our membership manager) and liability insurance. For 2019, our total expenses were $32,799. At the end of 2019 we have reserves of $25,278 which are needed to cover unplanned expenses, printing informational brochures and to pursue new opportunities related to telling the floods story.