06/18/2017

— Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum—

Fathers get free admission on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18, 2017 at Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, Oregon. Bring the kids and enjoy a day of family fun, 9 a.m to 5 p.m., 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles.

A live raptor demonstration will be held at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the River Gallery. Children’s activities will be available in the Kids Explorer Room.

Enjoy a mid-day traditional Native American Salmon bake. The salmon will be prepared by Brigette and Sean McConville who will demonstrate traditional methods of preparing and cooking fish. The $15 luncheon will include side salads. In addition, Indian Fry Bread prepared by the Kalama family will be available for purchase. The McConvilles, from Warm Springs, maintain Salmon King Fisheries, a fishing and retail business on the Warm Springs Reservation. Lunch tickets are available first come, first serve and when the salmon is gone, it’s gone – so get here early!

At 2:00 p.m. join Dr. Jim O’Connor, U.S. Geological Survey, for “Before the Dams: the Geology of the Columbia River Gorge.” This program is sponsored by the Ice Age Floods Institute.

Before the dams were built, the Columbia River provided food resources and a natural transportation corridor through the Cascade Range to create a hub of commerce and cultural exchange. The first Indian fisheries took advantage of geologic choke points such the rapids of The Dalles of the Columbia, and at the Cascade Rapids, formed by a remnant of the Bridge of the Gods landslide dam. The historic runs of salmon have battled their way upriver and supported human life for more than 10,000 years.

In the 1900’s, hydroelectric dams were built to ease river navigation, mitigate flooding, and transform the river’s power into electricity that is distributed throughout the west. The dams dramatically changed the landscape of the river. But the area is experiencing a geological revival.

The Columbia River Gorge is an amazing intersection of geologic processes involving volcanism and uplift of the Cascade Range pitted against the power of the Columbia River. Ultimately the Cascade Range and the Columbia River will battle once again. How will that reshape the landscape of the Columbia Gorge?

Dr. Jim O’Connor is a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Portland, Oregon. He has studied some of the biggest floods in history and in the geological record. He is an authority on the Pleistocene Ice Age Floods history of the Columbia River Gorge and has also written recent reports on dam removal and flood damage prevention. He’s a fellow of the Geological Society of America. Since 1991, he has worked at the U.S. Geological Survey, intent on improving understanding of the processes and events that shape the remarkable and diverse landscapes of our planet.