The last Ice Age went out with a roar, not a whimper. The result is one of the most dramatic examples in the world of what climate change can mean, and Congress has plans for a “trail” to commemorate the little-known story.
Signs, interpretive centers and maps following the floods would be coordinated under federal legislation proposed by a Democrat, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Seattle, and a Republican, U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings of the Tri-Cities. If the bipartisan measure, co-sponsored by much of the rest of the Northwest delegation, passes as expected by the end of this Congress in 2008, the long-sought “Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail” — similar to the auto route following the path of Lewis and Clark — would be planned by 2010 and in place by 2016, Keith Dunbar of the National Park Service estimates.“Instead of opening new visitor centers, we’d enhance what’s already been built,” he says.
Federal funding would be a modest $500,000 or so a year to coordinate state and local efforts, plus about $12 million in expected capital spending. “The idea is from the top down but also from the grassroots up,” says Rene Senos, a senior associate at Seattle’s Jones & Jones landscape firm, which has worked on the plan.
Some municipalities aren’t waiting for Congress. The Wenatchee Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, for example, already has a map of its own 164-mile flood loop, which includes Dry Falls.
Following the entire trail could be a daunting project for the amateur geologist. Its primary roads are estimated to total nearly 1,000 miles long, says Gary Kleinknecht, president of Richland’s Ice Age Flood Institute. Secondary loops could double that.
“You just can’t fit the entire story into a national park,” noted retired Eastern Washington University geologist Eugene Kiver. The only photographs that take in the entire scale of the flood are from space.
And here in the modern age, expect people to hit the trail with GPS coordinates, Google Earth kml files. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find WiFi-enabled kiosks for devices we haven’t yet seen.