PACIFIC NORTHWEST SECTION HOME

Welcome to the home of the Pacific Northwest Section of the NAGT.

Our section is comprised of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and the Canadian Provinces of British Columbia and Yukon. We have been quite active since resurrection in 1999 when Spokane Community College and Eastern Washington University hosted a summer field conference with workshops and field trips. Since then, we have had field conferences each summer which have proved to be great fun. To learn more, check out the Meetings page.

The 2008 Summer Conference will be held in Yakima, WA in June 2008. For those of you unfamiliar with Washington, Yakima is located on Washington's semi-arid eastern side. While we may not be lushly verdant like Washington's west side (interpret-we aren't wet 2/3 of the year ;), we do have our own unique attractions, namely the geologic kind. Yakima is bound by several distinct geologic provinces: to the west, the south-central Cascades, including Mt. Rainier, dominate the skyline. To the east (and north and south), the numerous flows of Columbia River Basalt which build the Columbia Plateau are uplifted in the Yakima Fold Belt. The Columbia Plateau landscape gives testimony to the catastrophic Pleistocene floods that later inundated Eastern Washington, ripping out enormous pieces of real estate and leaving behind flood features on a massive scale. The Yakima Valley is also renowned for producing world-class wines, and is ranked among the top wine regions in the world. The 2008 conference will take place during the third week in June. On Tuesday, June 17th, Dr. Steve Reidel of Washington State University will lead participants on a hard rock exploration of the Columbia River Basalts and the Yakima Fold Belt. On Wednesday, June 18th, we will host another all-day field trip, this time heading west into the south-central Cascades. Pat Pringle of Centralia College, Centralia, WA, (and others to be announced) will showcase the tectonic and volcanic history of the White Pass and Bumping Lake areas on our way to Mount Rainier National Park. Thursday, June 19th will be the conference day. The schedule includes talks, a poster session, a session on using computer-based labs and exercises for all Earth Science classes, and workshop session. Please consider presenting on this day. We also encourage student participation! Friday, June 20th, will be the final day of the conference and the final field trip. Dr. Alan Busacca, emeritus professor in WSU's department of Crop and Soil Sciences and owner of Vinitas Vineyard Consultants, will lead us on a day trip to explore the terroir of the Yakima Valley. Early registration materials and more in-depth information will be in the winter 2008 newsletter (late Jan. /early Feb.) You can email earlier submissions to Cassandra Strickland. Please mark the dates on your calendars, and start working the power-that-be for travel monies now! A website is now available HERE. We hope to see you there!

NEW!! You can also peruse a collection of photographs taken during previous field trips by going to PHOTOS

Not a member of the Pacific Nortwest Section yet? The time to join is NOW! MEMBERSHIP FORM (Acrobat (PDF) 23kB Dec15 04)

The web sites posted here are in a constant state of flux. If you have any information that you would like to add to these pages contact Jenny Thomson. Links to web sites that you develop are better than sending me tons of photographs from field trips!