The following is from the Ice Age Floods Institute website:  www.iafi.org.              

During the last Ice Age . . . cataclysmic floods inundated portions of the Pacific Northwest from Glacial Lake Missoula, pluvial Lake Bonneville, and perhaps from subglacial outbursts.

Glacial Lake Missoula was a body of water as large as some of the USA’s Great Lakes. This lake formed from glacial meltwater that was dammed by a lobe of the Canadian ice sheet.  The waters of this huge lake forced its way past the ice dam, inundating parts of the Pacific Northwest.  These floods are a remarkable part of North American natural heritage. They have profoundly affected the geography and ways of life in the region, but have until recently remained largely unknown to the general public.

The IAFI website provides information about: The immensely powerful, cataclysmic Ice Age Floods that swept across the Pacific Northwest during recent geologic time.

The proposal for an Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, which would be a system of travel routes linking significant sites and interpretive facilities across the region.

The Ice Age Floods Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the authoritative presentation of the fascinating but little-known story of the floods.

We invite you to use the site to investigate the floods story further, and to visit and explore the extraordinary landscape itself. We also invite your support and participation as an Institute member or contributor.

Lower Columbia Chapter
Ice Age Floods Institute
PO Box 25658
Portland, OR 97298

Lower Columbia Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute  serves the Columbia Gorge and the Willamette Basin. The Lower Columbia Chapter in partnership with the City of Tualatin, Oregon and the Tualatin Historical Society hosts monthly lecture meetings and at least one field trip per year. The Chapter conducts business after the lectures and on the phone. Check calendar for dates and other information. Meetings are always free and open to the public.  We ask a $3.00 donation for meetings.