Sean Smith: On the trail for geologic recognition

L ate in the last ice age, roughly 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, the Pacific Northwest looked dramatically different than it does today.

Massive glacial ice covered much of Washington, North Idaho and Western Montana. One lobe of this wall of ice, called the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, blocked the Clark Fork River in the Idaho Panhandle, creating a massive lake stretching eastward for 200 miles. This body of water known as Glacial Lake Missoula contained more water than Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined.

Scientists believe this large ice dam broke and reformed countless times over the centuries. These failures allowed Lake Missoula to repeatedly empty in unimaginable floods, sending walls of water hundreds of feet tall tearing westward to the Pacific Ocean.

The route of these major floods followed much of what we today call the Columbia River Valley and Channeled Scabland. The floods shaped many of the features and landscapes of modern day Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The scablands and colossal Dry Falls in Central Washington, the rich soils of the Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the North Idaho lakes of Pend Oreille, Coeur d’Alene, as well as Montana’s Clark Fork Valley all owe much to these great deluges.

To commemorate this historic geological event, legislation to establish the country’s first National Geologic Trail has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington state. A network of trails, accessible by automobile, would follow the paths of the floods, starting in Missoula and ending at the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon.

Identical legislation introduced by Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell passed the Senate on a voice vote. The legislation in the House also boasts strong bipartisan support from all of the states involved. Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon decision makers are unanimous in support for this new national park unit.

Need for the designation of the nation’s first geologic trail is great. Currently, the Ice Age Floods region lacks a coordinated interpretative approach to its resources and themes. Creating a national geologic trail with a consistent explanation of the flood story and its resources will help the public better understand the area’s geologic past, present and potential future.

A deeper understanding of our shared geologic heritage may in turn create a stronger connection, investment and pride in our region.

Benefits of national designation would be numerous. In a day and age where many Western communities are struggling to find new revenue sources and are becoming more and more reliant on tourism, the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail would be an economic boon across the northwest.

According to the Small Business Institute at the University of Montana, the Ice Age Flood visitor center in Missoula alone would generate between $733,000 and $3.9 million annually. Communities such as Polson, Mont., Lewiston, Idaho, Ellensburg, Yakima and Spokane in Washington, and Eugene and Astoria in Oregon could see similar benefits.

In addition, our nation’s scientific knowledge would increase from the trail’s establishment. A deeper understanding of Ice Age Flood systems and its resources has already produced spillover scientific benefits.

For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) gained valuable insight on how to shape the early stages of its Mars program, such as the Pathfinder mission, by studying flood landscapes. Martian landscapes such as the Ares Vallis are very similar to Washington’s Channeled Scablands.

Many flood resources are already protected through public or private efforts. Therefore, no new federal land purchases would be required. As such, federal expenditures for the trail’s establishment and maintenance would be minimal.

Such widespread support and broad public benefits from this project should translate into swift passage through Congress, but the bill has progressed at glacial speed, with it first being introduced in the House in the winter of 2005. Hopefully, the hearing on Thursday in the House Subcommittee on National Parks helped regain momentum.

The Ice Age Floods legislation is a good bill and a great step in better understanding the Northwest’s natural history. Several Western communities would gain from the bill’s passage.