Lower Cheney-Palouse scabland field trip set

A free lecture about the southern half of the Cheney-Palouse scabland Tract of the Missoula Floods will be Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. in the Connell Library and Sept. 27 and at 7 p.m. in the Ritz Theatre at Ritzville. A paid field trip will be offered Sept. 28.

At its maximum, the flood path stretched more than 25 miles wide and includes examples of “Butte and Basin” topography, numerous coulees, canyons and cataracts. Other topics that will be covered during the lecture include evidence of earlier ice age floods, the Palouse-Snake River spillway, which includes the Palouse Canyon and Palouse Falls. The lecture serves to supplement the tour with aerial photos and additional information.

The field trip on Sept. 28 costs $75 for Ice Age Flood Institute members, $90 for non-members and $45 for students and teachers. Registration is required by Sept. 24. Forms are available at http://www.iafi.org under “Events.”

The all-day tour will start at the Bronco Inn in Ritzville. The group has chartered two buses from Wheatland Express and they will arrange to pickup tour participants at Colfax that morning on the way to Ritzville, according to Lloyd Stoess, president of the Palouse Falls chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.