Scablands

Proposed National ParkWashington
The dry cataract at Dry Falls, with lakes standing in the plunge pools below the basalt cliffs
All proposed National ParksScablandsNo active campaign
Location
Washington
Current protection
Sun Lakes–Dry Falls State Park, Palouse Falls State Park, Steamboat Rock State Park
Status
No active campaign
Tier
Tier 1 · National Park
Undiscovered America
Featured in the film and the book

Why should it be a National Park?

The Cascade Mountains in Washington split the state into two wildly different climate zones. In the western part of the state are thick, mossy forests and snow-capped mountains, where you can find all three of Washington's National Parks. However, east of the Cascade Mountains is a land that many people do not know about. Eastern Washington is dominated by a massive, semi-desert environment of grassland and rock formations called the Channeled Scablands. The scablands derive their name from their dark brown appearance and how they were formed. Around 15,000-years-ago at the end of the last ice age, an enormous glacial dam held back a body of water known as Lake Missoula (roughly half the volume of present-day Lake Michigan). When the ice dam broke that water was released, carving a 660 feet deep, 60 mile-long gash known as Grand Coulee Canyon into solid basalt (one of the hardest forms of rock). Basalt boulders are now scattered across Washington and even parts of Oregon.

Dry Falls, the site of the former waterfall, is a horseshoe-shaped cliff that is twice as high and three times as wide as Niagara Falls, making it the largest confirmed waterfall in history. Today, the site of the waterfall is preserved as Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. This park only protects 4,027 acres of the Scablands, while the overall region takes up more than 9.6 million-acres. The Scablands environment remains largely in danger of being altered or lost. Dozens of other worthy sites like Ginkgo Petrified Forest, Saddle Mountain, Moses Coulee, Wallula Gap, and Hat Rock deserve to be better protected for research and to preserve the legacy of our geologic history.

The history of National Park Campaigns

Despite J Harlen Bretz's landmark 1920s flood geology, the Scablands were never seriously advanced as a National Park; the definitive 2001 NPS Study of Alternatives found the flood features nationally significant but too vast and fragmented for a traditional park, recommending a geologic trail — which Congress created in 2009.

Distinct National Park attempts
1 (Grand Coulee National Park bills in eight consecutive Congresses, 1917–1933); a 2001 study found a park infeasible
Other designation attempts
1 successful (2009 National Geologic Trail), preceded by the 2001 study and multiple trail bills

Sources

  • NPS, Ice Age Floods Study of Alternatives and Environmental Assessment (Feb. 2001, nps.gov/iceagefloods/pdf/report.pdf), esp. sections A and N
  • DOI testimony on S. 206 / H.R. 383 (doi.gov/ocl)
  • S. Rept. 110-15 (govinfo)
  • P.L. 111-11
  • Ice Age Floods Institute (iafi.org)
  • Edmund B. Rogers, History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82d Congress (NPS, 1958)
Know of a campaign? Tell us
  1. 1917–1933

    Bills for a Grand Coulee National Park go to eight consecutive Congresses, from the 65th through the 72nd, almost all of them in the Senate; Grand Coulee Dam settles the question.

  2. 1920s

    J Harlen Bretz's cataclysmic-flood hypothesis.

  3. November 2, 1933

    Dry Falls state land reserved (Sun Lakes–Dry Falls State Park).

  4. 1933–1942

    Grand Coulee Dam construction.

  5. 1946

    Coulee Dam National Recreation Area (later Lake Roosevelt NRA).

  6. 1995

    Ice Age Floods Institute founded; lobbies for recognition.

  7. 1998

    Public Law 105-391, Title III directs the special resource study.

  8. 2000

    Hanford Reach National Monument (adjacent context).

  9. February 2001

    An NPS-led, 70-member study team completes the two-year Ice Age Floods Study of Alternatives and Environmental Assessment (produced by Jones & Jones). Findings: floods features are nationally significant and suitable for the park system, but "the size, breadth, and multitude of ownerships throughout the study region make the area not feasible to consider for a traditional National Park, Monument or similar designation." Preferred Management Alternative 3: a National Geologic Trail managed by the NPS in partnership with public/private entities (no NPS land-acquisition or regulatory authority).

  10. 2005

    S. 206 (109th Cong.); Subcommittee on National Parks hearing June 28, 2005 (S. Hrg. 109-101); reported with substitute (S. Rept. 109-144); passed Senate by unanimous consent Nov. 16, 2005. Companion H.R. 383. The Administration (Interior) opposed the bills, citing NPS maintenance-backlog priorities.

  11. 2007

    S. 268 (Sens. Cantwell, Wyden, Craig, Murray); Rep. Doc Hastings carried House versions across the 107th–110th Congresses.

  12. March 30, 2009

    Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail designated in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (P.L. 111-11); an auto route across Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon; not a unit of the National Park System, with $12 million authorized. (Sen. Cantwell; Rep. Hastings.)

  13. No "Channeled Scablands National Park" bill or op-ed campaign was found. Palouse Falls became Washington's official state waterfall (2014).