A Quarterly Newsletter Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

February 2016 Tracing the courses of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail stretches through 11 states. The Trail winds over mountains, along rivers, through plains and high deserts, and extends to the wave- lapped Pacific coast. In this diversity of Happy New Year landscapes, visitors to the Trail create their own journeys of discovery. From the Superintendent

LEWIS AND CLARK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL 601 Riverfront Drive continual renewal and revitalization, have accomplished as a nation in setting Omaha, Nebraska 68102 organizations decline and disappear. aside and protecting amazing parks, Every organization I work with struggles historic sites, and outdoor places. Phone to bring in the next generation. No 402 661-1804 - visitor center organization can rest on its laurels, as The NPS Centennial is about who we are 402 661-1814 - administration they used to say, but needs to keep and what we really value. This is not moving just about E-mail [email protected] forward. the NPS, but Internet www.nps.gov/lecl But, it’s also also about Facebook important all parks and facebook.com/lewisandclarknht to stop once open spaces, Twitter in a while to the heritage @LewisClarkTrail appreciate areas and what partners that YouTube youtube.com/lewisandclarknhtnps you have we as a nation accomplished, have built and Mark Weekley to celebrate, protected. THE TRAIL COMPANION re-charge and Equally Superintendent, Mark Weekley The National Park Service Centennial is re-tool. important for finally here! Its goal is to the Centennial Would you like to contribute an article or The NPS is an feature to The Trail Companion? Share the has a lot to opportunity Connect with and create celebrate, good work you are doing. to look to the next generation of park but also has the future to new audiences to reach, new partners to make sure what we have built grows and We will be happy to accept your article for visitors, and advocates. engage, and fresh goals to pursue. thrives and is used by us and generations consideration in future issues. The Trail Its purpose is to re-invigorate the NPS, to to come. Not only is this going to be Companion is published quarterly in February, Lewis and Clark Trail partners are a great year, it is going to be a great May, August, and November. share what it is and has done over the past 100 years and make certain we are even part of this celebration, part of the century. Please contact the Editor, Karla Sigala more vibrant and relevant 100 years from accomplishments and they should at: [email protected] now. join us in celebrating this year as we Happy New Year! ■ look forward to the new century. The Cover photo: Kids take in the scenery at Alice If organizations don’t step back and look Centennial is not an ego trip or chance Creek Historic District near Lincoln, . at what their purpose is, what they have for us to tell everyone how great we are. Photo by Sue Lattin. accomplished, and where they are going, The Centennial is a chance for all of us MARK WEEKLEY then they will fade into history. Without to take pride and appreciate what we Superintendent

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Click HERE to subscribe or update your profile to stay informed. 2 3 Trailscapes Located in the rolling, high terrain of the Alice Creek Historic District near Lincoln Montana, the Alice Creek Historic District is part of a unique and multi-layered story that spans thousands of years. Native Americans have traversed the area on the Cokahlarishkit Trail, also known as the “Road to the Buffalo.” Ruts made by generations of Native American hunters, their families, and their travois pulled by dogs and horses can still be seen. What is a travois? Today, the landscape looks much the same as it did in July of 1806, when a small band of newcomers arrived led by Captain . A travois is a traditional tool that The Alice Creek environment is characterized was used by Native Americans to by marshy riparian vegetation along the Alice carry loads overland. It is made Creek drainage and open sage flats in the Alice Creek Basin, and well-forested foothill up of two wooden poles joined and mountain slopes interspersed with open together with netting and attached alpine meadows of mixed prairie grass. Thick stands of white-bark pine are found at to the back of a dog or a horse. In the top of (so named, heavily-traveled areas where travois despite the fact that never were used, such as Alice Creek, the ventured there). The landscape is also notable for its unique roadless condition. earth is marked by deep, parallel tracks. Remnants of these travois Beaver dams play a key role in keeping the watershed healthy – creating deep pools tracks can still be seen etched in the for trout and helping to conserve water and shallow soil, particularly when the control flooding. During his visit, Lewis noted “much appearance of beaver and many dams. sun is low and shadows are cast over Bottoms not wide and covered with low the landscape. willow and grass…deer are remarkably plenty and in good order.” Westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout idle in river eddies, while bald eagles and osprey nest in riverside trees.

Continued on Page 8

Photo of Blackfeet travois by Edward Curtis, courtesy of Library of Congress. 4 Photo by Zack Porter. 5 Continued from Page 7

The area is also home to wolves, moose, elk, Highway 200, travel 11 miles north on the and deer. Perhaps most significantly, Alice Alice Creek Road #293 to reach the parking Creek is one of the only places along the area for the Alice Creek Trailhead. The Alice entire Lewis and Clark Trail where grizzly Creek Trail leads to the Lewis and Clark Pass bears still roam. and the Scapegoat Wilderness. The family- friendly trail has a gradual incline and the For thousands of years, Native Americans hike to the pass is 1.7 miles. Many outdoor (Ursus arctos horribilis) traveled through this landscape on the activities such as hiking, backpacking, Cokahlarishkit Trail, or “Road to the Buffalo.” camping, picnicking, nature study, fishing, The Kootenai, Salish, , and horse riding, and more are available. ■ After hearing stories about grizzly peoples all followed the well-worn trails of bears from Native American tribes their ancestors to buffalo hunting grounds east of the . People from RYAN M. COOPER during their journey, the Lewis and the Blackfeet and Crow tribes also traversed Photo by Roger Dey. Geographer Clark Expedition first noted encounters the area on this ancient path. In 1806, Nez Perce Indian guides told Meriwether Lewis with the species in October of 1804, Forty years after Lewis’ visit through Alice of a “well beaten track” that would be easy Creek, missionaries Father Nicolas Point and in what is today the state of North to follow. Lewis passed through the area Father Pierre DeSmet arrived in the region to collecting plant specimens and noting birds, Dakota. Adult grizzly bears have establish missions among the Indian tribes. animals, wild horses, signs of buffalo, and concave faces, high-humped shoulders, On one buffalo-hunting venture with the Indian encampments. and curved claws. Males typically Flathead, Point writes they had reached “the summit of a mountain from which one could On July 7, 1806, Lewis and his party of men range from 300-600 lbs, while females see a horizon more than a hundred leagues followed a track along today’s Alice Creek range from 200-400 lbs. Their thick in circumference, after reciting the first that took them northeast to the foot of the Vespers of St. Michael, I made and planted fur may vary in color from light brown Continental Divide. He wrote “from this gap a cross.” A stone structure in the shape of a which is low and an easy ascent on the W. to nearly black, making it sometimes Celtic cross lies at the top of Lewis and Clark side the fort mountain [] bears difficult to distinguish a grizzly from Pass. Use of the trail began to decline by the north east, and appears to be distant about 1860s when free-roaming herds of buffalo no a black bear. In the early 1800s, an 20 miles.” This was the first recognizable longer existed and tribes were removed to landmark for Lewis since he had left Travelers’ estimated 50,000 grizzly bears roamed reservations. across the North American west. Rest near Lolo, Montana. From what is today known as Lewis and Clark Pass, the party The Alice Creek Historic District can be Today, Alice Creek is the one of the descended the mountain to the east and reached by traveling east on Highway 200 camped near its base before traveling on to only areas along the Lewis and Clark from Lincoln, Montana. The turnoff to the Upper Portage Camp above the Great Alice Creek is 10 miles east of Lincoln. From Trail where grizzlies may be found. Falls of the .

Photo by Roger Dey. Photo: Grizzly bears in meadow courtesy of Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

6 7 Lewis and Clark Portage Route Chapter Trail Heritage Foundation Call for Scholar-In-Residence

The Portage Route Chapter of the Lewis would need to travel in order to conduct their Awards $56,512 in Trail and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation invites research. Applicants must be considered a full- applications from student scholars to its Scholar- time student (enrolled both before and after the Stewardship Grants In-Residence fellowship program designed to program), and must be at least an upper-level encourage use of the William P. Sherman Library undergraduate. and Archives in Great Falls, Montana. Applications will be accepted through March A $3,000 stipend will be granted to a student 1, 2016. Award notifications will be made by Eleven grant requests were funded for •LCTHF Rochejhone Chapter for an onsite researcher who articulates a research topic March 31, 2016. The 2016 Scholar-In-Residence Fiscal Year 2016. There recipients are: the interpretive sign at Clark’s Canoe Camp; suitable for extensive use of this special term of 3 to 4 weeks should begin approximately LCTHF Badger State Chapter (WI) for • •Salmon Valley Stewardship (ID) for collection. The stipend is meant to defray May 30, 2016 in order to participate in the 2015 interpretive signs marking the sites of Discovery Hill restoration; and •Washington expenses incurred in traveling to, and residing Lewis and Clark Festival in Great Falls, June 18- Lewis and Clark Expedition member County Historical Association (NE) for a in, Great Falls, MT for three to four weeks. The 20. Alexander Willard’s homes from museum display on Lewis and Clark’s Portage Route Chapter will assist the Scholar in 1827 to 1852; Discovery • first meeting with the and finding cost-effective lodging. Desk space and The Scholar-In-Residence will be expected to Expedition of St. Charles Missouria. internet connection will be provided by the Lewis conduct research for at least 32 hours a week, (DESC) for literature and and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. and will give at least one public presentation supplies in support of the Charitable distributions for on their research toward the end of residence DESC’s Eastern Legacy Tour the trail stewardship grants Research is expected to focus upon at least one in Great Falls. The Scholar will submit a short with the Bureau of Land are provided by the Lewis & Clark of the following (or similar) areas: Jefferson’s report describing the resources used during the Management’s Traveling Exhibit; Trail Stewardship Endowment: A Corps of Discovery; the native peoples the residency. The Scholar will also submit a scholarly LCTHF Riverbend Chapter (MO/ • National Council of the Lewis & Expedition met along their journey; efforts article, representing at least a portion of the KS) for completion of the Lewis Clark Bicentennial Legacy Project. to establish and protect the Lewis and research conducted at the Sherman Library, to and Clark Country promotional Each year a portion of the endowment Clark National Historic Trail; work of Lewis We Proceeded On, the scholarly journal of the materials for Missouri, Kansas, and is released to support projects that will have and Clark entities connecting the general Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation within Illinois; National Smokejumpers Association • a demonstrable, positive impact along the public to the National Historic Trail through three months of the residency in order to receive (MT) for equipment for clearing and pathways followed by the Lewis and Clark interpretation; commemoration of the Lewis the last half of the stipend. marking the Expedition’s route down from Expedition. and Clark Bicentennial, 2003 – 2006; and the Lost Trail Pass on the Montana side of the organizational history of the Lewis and Clark For more information about the program, the Continental Divide; LCTHF Ohio River • Please visit lewisandclark.org for a Trail Heritage Foundation – about to celebrate Sherman Library, suggested topics, and application Chapter for installation of Eastern Legacy grant application. Grants for FY 2017 are its 50th anniversary. An applicant’s proposal materials, please visit the Portage Route Chapter’s signs; Our Montana for the Yellowstone • due on October 1, 2016. Members of the should specifically address its relevance to the web page: www.corpsofdiscovery.org River Interpretive Map Project which will Lewis and Clark Trail Stewardship Advisory unique resources found in the Sherman Library’s and click on the “Scholar” tab. ■ identify and interpret Clark’s journey on Committee are Chair Margaret Gorski, Karen collections. the between Livingston Goering, Rob Heacock, Jane Henley, Steve Ella Mae Howard, and the mouth of the Big Horn; LCTHF • Lee, Dee Roche, Dan Wiley, Ex Officio NPS, The program is open to all U.S. citizens and Scholar-In-Residence Program Chair Rochejhone Chapter for an interpretive sign and Lindy Hatcher, Executive Director. ■ to Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). Due to Portage Route Chapter and media presentation on the discovery of federal regulations, persons holding J-1 or F-1 PO Box 2424 Clark’s Canoe Camp at Pompeys Pillar Visitor exchange visitor or student visas are not eligible. Great Falls, MT 59403 Center; Preference will be given to those applicants (406)784-2282 or (406)727-2682 residing outside of the Great Falls area who Email: [email protected] 8 9 Who Eats at Taco Bell? by Gaelyn and Gustavo Aguilar, Tug Collective

Two People, Two Months, Eleven States American attitudes, institutions, and politics surface of recent debates around immigration venues along this 11-state journey. All the their food, bearing in mind that this paradox is are changing dramatically as the policy and racial justice lies a simple question: while, Gaelyn and Gustavo will make tacos with often connected to a kind of forgetfulness of finds itself on the cusp of becoming a nation As these demographic changes are inevitable, people, prompt dialogue, and invite innovative how in the U.S. we are, in fact, almost all aliens. with no majority demographic group. Changes what is it going to take for us to truly live multi- forms of engagement around the question: like this, however, often expose underlying culturally? What is it going to take for us to truly live Why This? Why Now?....Why Tacos? fears and uncertainties that can lead to tension multi-culturally? The taco operates as an ‘indicator species,’ and conflict, even as they reveal implicit Over the summer of 2016, Gaelyn and Gustavo one small part of an ecosystem that can assumptions and biases that have existed in of Tug Collective will embark on a two-month The idea for the expedition was sparked in indicate the health of a society faced with multiplying diversities. Sharing a meal the popular imagination for some time around expedition over the National Historic Lewis and Gustavo’s hometown of Brownsville, Texas, a together is also a way that people from what it means to be an American. Under the Clark Trail, making various stops at community small town—population 175,000—with roughly varied backgrounds and histories have 150-200 taquerias. And, yet, one Taco Bell always been able to transcend difference continues to thrive. Que pasa? Tug Collective and boundaries, and come together. By began to understand how the American “breaking bread” with another person we invite an exchange, we share, and in so diet—as much as it has been formed by the doing we help soften the ground for new intermingling of different cultures—sheds relationships to form. Altogether, this light on the multiple ways that Americans expedition is designed to spark ideas and have chosen to define what it means to be an solutions, and strengthen relationships American. Tug Collective began to explore how through participatory engagement with a range of critical themes today: Socio- making tacos with people along the Lewis and economic mobility, cultural belonging, Clark Trail (a trail forged by an expedition that movement and borders, assimilation and played an important role in European-American appropriation, and new forms of cultural territorial, cultural, and economic expansion identity. How we—as a nation—respond across the continent) would be a powerful way to this contemporary cultural moment will be a marker of our capacity to learn from to explore the paradox of how someone could history and grow. We hope to see you on harbor a disdain for ‘foreigners,’ but a love for the trail! ■

Who We Are Gaelyn and Gustavo Aguilar are the Co-Facilitators of Tug, an interdisciplinary collective that serves as a platform for addressing issues of social and cultural transformation. You can reach them via e-mail at: [email protected]. For more information about Tug, please visit: www.tugcollective.org. For a preliminary schedule of the Summer 2016 expedition, visit Tug Collective on Facebook. #1 Happy Taco, Brownsville, Texas 2014 Photo by Gaelyn Aguilar 10 11 Centennial Volunteers: Resources Do you have 201.6 hours to spare this year?

We are happy to announce that the National We are confident that 2016 will be no Park Service will be rolling out a special different, and we anticipate being able to Centennial Award just for VOLUNTEERS! recognize the hard work of individuals that volunteer 201.6 hours of their time. We Click to view a recording of the As part of the Centennial Challenge, any invite and encourage volunteer managers January 21, 2016 #2 Centennial Trail- wide Webinar with Jim Dion, where volunteer who dedicates 201.6 hours of to submit their nominations for this special we explore the possibility of partnering service to a national park site during the recognition by contacting me directly. In with National Geographic on a trail- Centennial 2016 calendar year is eligible for a the coming weeks I will be sending out an wide geotourism effort. Centennial Challenge Volunteer Coin. email with more information to everyone on my list. Please email me your questions and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (Trail) nominations at [email protected]. volunteers are spread out over 3,700 miles Click to read Lewis and – each contributing their time and expertise CHARLOTTE MURTISHAW Clark National Historic Trail to local, state, and private organizations. In Student Conservation Association Centennial Plan. Fiscal Year 2015, over 157,000 hours of service Centennial Volunteer Ambassador were logged by 4,573 volunteers.

The National Park Foundation created a The Find Your Park campaign is space for meaningful dialogue and the a media outreach effort, funded exchange of innovative ideas about the through the National Park next century for parks. Foundation, designed to help reintroduce the National Park Submit your content for the Find Your Service to all Americans. Park website. Friends and partners are invited to submit Experiences and Events to appear on the website. Conceptual mock-up of the Centennial Challenge Volunteer Coin.

12 13 Lewis and Clark Calling All Resources 4th graders

As part of President Obama’s commitment to voucher. This paper pass can be used in lieu protect our nation’s unique outdoor spaces of the admission fee for federal lands and and ensure that every American has the waters. The paper pass is good for the entire opportunity to visit and enjoy them, the vehicle that the fourth grader arrives in, Obama Administration launched the meaning the pass will cover the entire new Every Kid in a Park program. family, so long as (the fourth grader is present). Fourth graders nationwide can visit the Every Kid in This pass is valid from September a Park website to obtain a 1, 2015 to August 31, 2016. In pass that provides free access addition, if the fourth grader to students and their families to would like to exchange their all federally managed lands and paper pass for a more durable waters – including national parks, ‘keepsake’ Fourth Grade Annual forests, wildlife refuges and marine Pass, there are numerous locations sanctuaries. that will have the durable pass. Visit https://store.usgs.gov/pass to find a location It’s easy! Students log onto the Every Kid in near you. a Park website and complete the interactive activity that the National Park Service has We encourage you to visit the website - there developed in conjunction with Scholastic. are recources for parents and educators too. Once the student completes the online Get out there and enjoy! ■ activity they are able to print out a paper

www.everykidinapark.gov

15 Do you know where this is? Tweet your response @LewisClarkTrail Or email your answer to: [email protected]