S. Rept. 110-15 - Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation Act, 2007-02-15

• Date: 15 February 2007
• Type of Document: House Report
• Issuer: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

59–010

Calendar No. 40

110

TH

C

ONGRESS

R

EPORT

" !

SENATE

1st Session 110–15

ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC TRAIL

DESIGNATION ACT

F

EBRUARY

15, 2007.—Ordered to be printed

Mr. B

INGAMAN

, from the Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources, submitted the following

R E P O R T

[To accompany S. 268]

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was

referred the bill (S. 268) to designate the Ice Age Floods National

Geologic Trail, and for other purposes, having considered the same,

reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends

that the bill do pass.

PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

The purpose of S. 268 is to designate the Ice Age Floods National

Geologic Trail, a trail from Missoula, Montana, to the Pacific

Ocean, to provide for the public appreciation, understanding, and

enjoyment of the nationally significant natural and cultural fea-

tures of the Ice Age Floods.

BACKGROUND AND NEED

During the Pleistocene Epoch Ice Age, beginning about 1.8 mil-

lion years ago, North America was repeatedly glaciated by ice

sheets that covered much of Alaska, Canada, and the northern

United States. The most recent glacial event was the Wisconsin

glaciation, which began about 80,000 years ago and ended around

10,000 years ago.

During the last Ice Age a series of catastrophic floods ravaged

the Pacific Northwest in what are now the States of Montana,

Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. A finger of the Cordilleran ice

sheet crept southward into the Idaho Panhandle, blocking the

Clark Fork River and creating Glacial Lake Missoula. As the wa-

ters rose behind this 2,000-foot ice dam, they flooded the valleys of

VerDate Aug 31 2005 01:49 Feb 21, 2007Jkt 059010PO 00000Frm 00001Fmt 6659Sfmt 6602E:\HR\OC\SR015.XXXSR015

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with HEARING