Missoula lecture traces Glacial Lake Missoula floods, calls for visitor center and congressional support

At a February 2007 presentation at the Missoula Public Library, a geologist and member of the Ice Age Floods Institute outlined the history and landscape effects of Glacial Lake Missoula and the region’s Ice Age floods, described the institute’s education work and field trips, proposed a Missoula-area visitor center, and urged the audience to encourage congressional cosponsors for two bills now before Congress.

The presenter said the floods — produced when an ice dam that held Glacial Lake Missoula failed repeatedly near present-day Sandpoint, Idaho — scoured and reshaped terrain across Western Montana, central Washington and down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. “This is something I need to get involved with,” the presenter said, describing how early regional meetings and a later citizen group helped push for broader recognition of the flood story.

Why it matters: The speaker stressed the floods’ geological significance and their potential for tourism and education. He said the Ice Age Floods Institute seeks to coordinate interpretation across the four-state region (Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon), to produce guide routes and materials for visitors, and to create local facilities that would lengthen stays in gateway…