Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
The Lewis and Clark Expedition sought to explore the Missouri River and locate a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. The group was also charged with thoroughly examining the geography, geology, ethnology, botany, and wildlife of the recently purchased Louisiana Territory and establishing good relationships with American Indians.
In 1978, Congress established the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail to tie together 120 historic sites associated with the Corps of Discovery. The trail, which extends for 3,700 miles from Wood River, Illinois, to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon, commemorates the expedition. Interest in including additional sites associated with the expedition could lead to trail expansion in the future.
The trail combines aspects of westward expansion, contact between Euro-Americans and American Indians, discovery, and material and cultural exchange—a multi-faceted story that is sometimes lost as the expedition is romanticized in popular culture. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail presents this story and its cultural nuances to audiences who may be unfamiliar with parts of it. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail also uses the story of the expedition to tell larger stories of the American narrative, such as foreign affairs, domestic issues, gender and race questions, and American Indian sovereignty.
Although the National Park Service administers the trail, it differs in some important ways from other lands and waters within the National Park System. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail owns none of the lands or waters within its boundaries, and trail staff do not have management authority over these lands and waters. Some areas are privately owned, while others are owned by various states. As a result, trail staff work with many partners, including state parks, other national parks and federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, American Indian tribes, state museums, local historic groups, and state historic preservation societies.
Because of this unique administrative situation, the Center for State of the Parks did not apply its assessment methodologies to rate conditions of natural and cultural resources at the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Instead, the challenges associated with administering the trail, as well as successful programs and partnerships, are highlighted below.
