Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2014 is a good year for you and your family. As we start the new year, I ask you to consider renewing your Ice Age Floods Institute - Ellensburg Chapter membership. Or to become a new member for 2014...

We are grateful for past Ellensburg Chapter IAFI memberships! The Ellensburg Chapter receives 50% of the cost of your membership. The remaining 50% goes to the IAFI as a whole. To learn of the IAFI's mission, please click on: IAFI/About

Ellensburg Chapter Treasurer Tuck Forsythe reports that $2,401.67 is our current balance. In 2013, we spent your membership dues on field trip handouts and speaker travel costs. Our Chapter emphasizes informality, OPTIONAL membership dues, and a hearty welcome to anyone interested in the dramatic story of the Ice Age Floods and other geologic tales of central Washington.

To renew your IAFI membership for 2014, CLICK HERE: Join/IAFI

• West Bar giant current ripples-On display downstream from Wenatchee along the Columbia River, these photogenic ripples are well-known among Ice Age Floods experts around the world.
• Ginkgo State Park-15 million-year-old petrified logs sit on basalt cliffs overlooking the Columbia River near the town of Vantage.
• Columbia River Basalt-More than 300 basaltic lava flows flooded the Pacific Northwest time after time 7-15 million years ago - burying forests, changing river courses, and loading the crust of the region.
• St. Helens-Awakening famously on May morning in 1980, the mountain woke again in 2004 building an impressive lava dome tucked inside its crater.
• Rainier-Many geologists are concerned about Mt. Rainier-related natural hazards that threaten residents of the Puget Sound. Will there be volcanic mudflows flowing down river valleys in our lifetime?
• Lahars (volcanic mudflows)-of the Ellensburg Formation perch above the Sunset Highway west of Ellensburg near the village of Thorp. Geologists continue to debate which extinct volcano is responsible for these deposits.
• Central Cascades alpine peaks.(photo shows summit of Mt. Stuart)-93 million-year-old granodiorite dominates the geology of Mount Stuart - one of many peaks of the Central Cascades. Granodiorite forms when magma solidifies underground beneath volcanoes. So what happened to the volcano?