[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING DR. TRACY VALLIER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TOM McCLINTOCK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Dr. Tracy 
Vallier.
  Dr. Vallier's career as a Professor of Geology at Indiana State 
University, Whitman College, Lewis-Clark State College, and Iowa State 
University; as well as his experience with Scripps Institute of 
Oceanography, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and the US Geological 
Survey are all worthy of note. He has doubtlessly passed his passion 
and hard-earned knowledge on to innumerable students and colleagues.
  Dr. Vallier has spent the last 50 years working to explore, document 
and teach the geography and geology of the Hells Canyon. The canyon, 
which follows the route of the Snake River through Idaho and Oregon, is 
the deepest gorge in North America: at 7,993 feet deep, it dwarfs the 
Grand Canyon by nearly 2,000 feet. Hells Canyon is a breathtaking, 
nearly-inaccessible American treasure that has been over 300 million 
years in the making, during which numerous geological processes ranging 
from volcanic uprisings, to the slow carving of the Snake River to 
cataclysmic glacial floods have provided a landscape filled with some 
of the most complex and intertwined geology in North America.
  Dr. Vallier has dedicated the last half-century to understanding this 
geologic masterpiece. His colleagues tell us that he has probably 
explored more geography of Hells Canyon than any person alive. In his 
50 years working in the Canyon, Dr. Vallier has led to an understanding 
of not only the geologic history of the Canyon, but also of the 
regional tectonics of the Pacific Northwest. He has shared this 
knowledge of the Canyon's history, native sites, flora and fauna, and 
ecology to colleagues, students, and almost everyone he has met. Dr. 
Vallier is a born teacher and his love and knowledge of the Canyon is 
passed on to students and strangers alike.
  John Wesley Powell, who is best known for his pioneering study of the 
Grand Canyon, said about his explorations: ``We have an unknown 
distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, 
we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride 
over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.'' 
Without Powell, indeed we would have been left for a long time with 
only conjecture as our guide to the Grand Canyon.
  In the same way Mr. Speaker, without Dr. Tracy Vallier, we would 
remain in the dark about the wonders of Hells Canyon. As Dr. Vallier 
continues his work in the Canyon today, it is my privilege to rise in 
recognition of his many achievements and contributions to our nation.

                          ____________________