Bicentennial Council History

The following article, penned by Sammye Meadows, the council's cultural awareness coordinator, was written to appear in the June 2001 issue of "History News Magazine" which is a publication of the American Association for State and Local History. It provides a wonderful overview of the history and development of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

Partnering for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial

"I will chearfully join you - and partake of the dangers, difficulties, and fatigues, and I anticipate the honors & rewards of the result of such an enterprise, should we be successful in accomplishing it. This is an undertaking fraited with many difeculties, but My friend I do assure you that no man lives whith whome I would perfur to undertake Such a Trip as your self."

-- William Clark to Meriwether Lewis, July 18, 1803

So began one of the greatest partnerships in American history.

When the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial was formed eight years ago to coordinate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it adopted the captains' approach. Partnership would be the key.

The Bicentennial

From 2003 through 2006, our nation will observe the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's journey. The lure of gazing upon the same landscapes, meeting descendants of the same people, getting bit by descendants of the same mosquitoes, walking in the footsteps of heroes is strong. An estimated twenty-five million travelers will camp/drive/bike/paddle/ride/walk in the explorers' footsteps. They will attend commemorative events, festivals, and re-enactments; enjoy art, sculpture, film, video, theatre, and online productions; visit interpretive centers, museums, and parks -- eager to experience this American epic first hand.

The bicentennial observance is developing as an expansive four-year, American grassroots effort, planned by a huge network of local communities, tribes, states, federal agencies, organizations, and individuals from Monticello to the mouth of the Columbia River. This vast partnership is coordinated at the national level by the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, based in Portland, Oregon.

The National Council

The National Council was born in the 1980's as the Bicentennial Committee of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, the 35 year old national membership organization which is "keeper of the story; steward of the trail." By 1993 the committee had incorporated as a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to "commemorate Lewis and Clark's epic journey, rekindle its spirit of discovery, and acclaim the contributions and goodwill of the Native peoples. In cooperation with state, federal, and tribal governments - and all interested individuals and organizations, the Council promotes educational programs, cultural sensitivity and harmony, and the sustaining stewardship of natural and historical resources along the route of the expedition." That statement of mission has guided the Council in its program support and in its partnering.

The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and the National Park Service -- managing agency for the National Trails System and Fort Clatsop National Memorial -- were the Council's first partners. Housed in donated offices, first at Fort Vancouver, Washington, and now at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, the Council soon developed its first bicentennial state partnerships with the Oregon and Washington State Historical Societies.

Over the years, through a series of memoranda of understanding, the Council has further partnered with federal agencies; state bicentennial commissions; a growing number of the fifty-eight tribal nations who encountered the expedition; state historical societies; and institutional partners like the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, American Rivers, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Magazine, Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Advisory Committee, Student Conservation Association, and other historical, cultural, and conservation organizations, to plan a 200th anniversary as ambitious in vision and scope as the expedition itself. The anniversary will cost millions of dollars more than the original $2,500 Congress appropriated for the expedition in 1803.

Bicentennial Partners

To build a network of bicentennial stakeholders, in 1996 the Council began hosting national planning workshops around its themes of education, reconciliation, preservation, and commemoration, at sites along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Over the past five years the workshops have drawn larger and larger participation from around the country. The Council has expanded its first partnerships and created new ones, with and between many workshop participants, into a growing network of coalitions, which include:

National Inter-Agency Memorandum of Understanding

On May 23, 1997, the Congress of the United States passed Senate Resolution 57, recognizing the leadership of the Council in commemorating the bicentennial and urging all relevant government agencies to participate in the commemoration. The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Federal Inter-Agency and National Bicentennial Council Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October 1998 by the Council and the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Army, Education, and Transportation, and agencies within them: Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Geological Survey, US Fish Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Federal Highways Administration, and Corps of Engineers.

This year several additional agencies joined the MOU: the Departments of Energy and Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institutes of Museum and Library Services, US Coast Guard, National Archives and Records Administration, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the US Mint.

What do all these federal agencies have to do with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial? Many of them manage land or river portions of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and are working together to develop resource protection and visitor management plans for the anticipated visitation spike. Margaret Gorski, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Coordinator for the Forest Service, says her agency is involved because "the National Council's goals of trail stewardship, trail preservation, historical accuracy and tribal reconciliation align with Forest Service goals for protecting, managing and interpreting the National Forest portions of the trail."

The National Endowment for the Arts believes that cultural heritage tourism can help strengthen the economies of rural communities and that the arts can play an important role in cross-cultural communication. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is working with and on behalf of tribal nations. The US Mint released the Sacagawea dollar coin two years ago and will issue a commemorative Lewis and Clark coin at the start of the bicentennial. The Federal Highway Administration funds construction and maintenance of national trails.

The Inter-Agency Group's goals are to advance public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the expedition; provide leadership for parties observing the bicentennial; renew America's commitment to National Historic Trails; promote educational and interpretive opportunities for trail visitors; support long-term economic viability of states, tribes, and communities along the trail; and protect and preserve the natural environment, cultural, and historic resources of the trail.

US Senate and House Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Congressional Caucuses

In 1998, the bicameral, bipartisan Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Congressional Caucus was formed to coordinate the congressional response to the upcoming commemoration. The caucus now has seventy-one members in both the House and Senate. Its co-chairs are Senators Larry E. Craig (R-ID), Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), Conrad Burns (R-MT), and Representatives Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and Doug Bereuter (R-NE). The caucus has provided essential funding and leadership for trail state projects.

The caucus's mission is to support the needs of federal and state agencies, tribes, communities, and organizations that are dedicated to commemorating the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. They support activities and projects that are needed to enhance management of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and associated sites. They identify funding sources and coordinate federal legislative activities benefiting the bicentennial. The role of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial is to inform and advise the caucus.

Circle of Tribal Advisors

In pursuit of its mission to acclaim the contributions and goodwill of the Native peoples, the Council invited tribal participation from the beginning.

Nez Perce tribal member, Allen Pinkham, the Council's Tribal Liaison and a member of the board since the outset, was instrumental in creating the Council's Circle of Tribal Advisors. COTA is made of up representatives from each of the fifty-eight tribal nations who met Lewis and Clark. Allen was joined on the board by Amy Mossett of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, North Dakota, and Dark Rain Thom of the Shawnee United Remnant Band. Together they pressed for an inter-tribal conclave, convened in the traditional ways, so that each tribe could be heard. The first gathering was hosted by the Nez Perce in late October 2000, and funded by the National MOU Inter-Agency Team. Twenty of the fifty-eight tribes participated and began work on an historic memorandum of understanding among themselves to create a unified tribal voice in the bicentennial.

The tribes are planning to tell their experiences with the Lewis and Clark story in their own words and from their own perspectives. They are interested in sustainable economic opportunities -- including development of inter-tribal tourism. And they are concerned about the vitality of living cultures and languages, reconciliation and greater respect between cultures and nations, restoration of natural resources, and protection of sacred sites. The bicentennial provides an opportunity to be heard and to diversify economic bases.

Why are the tribes choosing to be partners in the bicentennial? COTA Chair Amy Mossett says, "This is the first time the tribes have been given the opportunity to participate in telling the Lewis and Clark story. In the past, most Americans believed that Lewis and Clark succeeded on their own in their monumental mission, when in fact, they probably wouldn't have survived without the tribes. This time around the tribes are being asked to tell the story from their points of view."

The second tribal gathering was held on April 23, 2001, in Omaha, Nebraska. It was hosted by the Circle of Tribal Advisors on the eve of the Council's 6th Annual National Planning Workshop. The third tribal gathering will be hosted by the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold in September 2001 in Bismarck, North Dakota. The April 2002 gathering will be hosted by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla in Pendleton, Oregon.

Circle of State Bicentennial Advisors

"Ocian in View! O! the joy."... wrote William Clark at the Mouth of the Columbia River on November 7, 1805. It had been 19 months and 4,162 miles since the Corps of Discovery started up the Missouri River from St. Louis. They had met 58 different sovereign nations, chased prairie dogs, collected hundreds of botanical specimens, and annoyed many grizzly bears.

All of the states along that 4,162 mile route, and four states east of it, have established Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commissions. In October 2000, the Council recognized a newly formed coalition of those state commissions as its Circle of State Advisors (COSA). The Circle includes Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

At its organizational meeting, the Circle elected Clint Blackwood, Executive Director of the Montana State Bicentennial Commission, as its first chairman and agreed to meet twice yearly in conjunction with the National Council's board meetings. "The states formed COSA in order to coordinate better among ourselves and to be the voice of the states to the Council," said Blackwood.

Since October all COSA members have submitted prioritized inventories of their states' proposed bicentennial projects - which the Council has compiled and submitted to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Congressional Caucus for legislative and funding consideration. The Council is also raising national corporate sponsorships to support projects and events listed in the inventory.

Corps of Education Partners

To carry out its education mission, in April 1998, the Council signed a memorandum of understanding with four educational institutions, who called themselves the Corps of Education Partners: Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, MidContinent Regional Education Laboratory, National Education Association, and the University of Montana. In November 2000, the Corps of Education Partners held and "Education Summit" in Portland and invited a number of new partners: Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, National Geographic Magazine, the Center for Innovation in Instruction, Classroom Connect, and others.

The Education Partners' mission is to "serve as an information clearinghouse for education-related Lewis and Clark Bicentennial activities that are planned locally, regionally, statewide, nationally and internationally; identify and disseminate promising resources that teachers and community volunteers might want to adapt for local adoption; develop, validate and disseminate curriculum models that illustrate the power of integrated learning for students of any age; and coordinate a real-time learning community via Internet, supplemented by expeditions and group events, during the bicentennial period..."

Partnerships for National Traveling Exhibitions

Because of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, one of the bicentennial's longest standing partnerships is with the National Park Service. In collaboration with other federal agencies, private partners and supporters, the Park Service is developing Corps of Discovery II -- a traveling museum and technological classroom -- that will tour the nation throughout the bicentennial, following the route of Lewis and Clark. Corps II is developing collaborative programming with many of the tribal, state, institutional, and federal partners within the bicentennial planning network.

A distinguished group of historical and academic institutions has partnered to develop the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Exhibition, an extraordinary 6,000 square foot touring exhibition of artifacts and original documents from the expedition -- not seen in one place since 1806. The public exhibition is being prepared by the Missouri Historical Society from its own collections and in partnership with other institutions lending artifacts: the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of Yale University, National Museum of American History, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University, and the Oregon Historical Society. The National Exhibition will tour from coast to coast during 2004-2006.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was a mission of the United States Army. Through the leadership of the National Guard, and working with local communities, the Army is planning to observe this significant event in its history with a nationwide, community based relay race following the route of Lewis and Clark.

Other Partners

The National Council has also partnered with historical, cultural, and conservation organizations such as the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Advisory Committee, Destination 2005, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, American Rivers, and the Student Conservation Association.

The first three are planning signature events in the commemoration -- the kick-off at Monticello on January 18, 2003 (200th anniversary of Jefferson's letter to Congress requesting appropriation for the expedition); commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase in St. Louis; and the November 2005 anniversary of the Corps of Discovery's arrival at the Pacific Ocean. Each group works with its state historical society and a coalition of local partner groups, such as Virginia's Home Front Chapter, the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Association of Astoria, Oregon, and Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark of Long Beach, Washington.

The Council has partnered with the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation for many purposes -- educational, historical, and to promote sustainable use of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail during the bicentennial. Members of the Foundation's thirty local chapters have been building parking lots and toilet facilities, erecting interpretive signs, giving educational programs, and working with private landowners, tribes, and agencies to protect and prepare the National Historic Trail for bicentennial visitation.

The Council partners with American Rivers and its Voyage of Recovery program for habitat and species restoration along the rivers of Lewis and Clark, improved dam operations, revitalization of riverfront communities, and recovery of the great Pacific Northwest salmon runs. And to help in these efforts, Corps of Discovery II, and other national educational and conservation programs, the Council has partnered with the Student Conservation Association for the training and employment of youth trail and interpretation workers, including Native American student interns.

These partnerships and coalitions involve hundreds and hundreds of people. And some have seemingly conflicting objectives -- conservation and river recovery, economic development and tourism promotion, protection of tribal and private lands, etc. But all are working together to prepare an ambitious bicentennial observance that invites all Americans, honors the contributions of Indian people, promotes reconciliation and inter-cultural respect, emphasizes education and historical accuracy, and urges responsible use of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

It is the Council's job to keep so many disparate partners focused on those common goals. The keys to meeting that challenge have been the partners' common ground, inclusiveness, communication, and personal relationships.

The most common bond among bicentennial partners is historic connection to the people and route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. States, tribes, and local communities are members of the partnership network because they want to tell about that connection. Says Kat Imhoff, Chief Operating Officer for Monticello, "Because Jefferson was the intellectual force behind the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and because Monticello served as a training base and as 'mission control' for the expedition in the field, it is highly appropriate that the four-year commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial begin at Jefferson's westward-looking mountaintop home."

Kristie Frieze is Executive Director of the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Foundation, "When we opened our new interpretive center at Fort Mandan in 1997, we learned very quickly the tremendous fascination the world has for the Lewis and Clark story. With visitors from all fifty states and over forty foreign countries, thus far, we know our story has a global interest. We are excited about working with the National Council to reveal our special part of the Lewis and Clark Trail to as wide an audience as possible."

Inclusion of all stakeholders has been uppermost for the Council since its inception, and a common goal of all bicentennial partners. A central bicentennial message from the state of Washington is that "the expedition was a joint venture with Native people and accordingly inclusion of Indian perspectives is essential." The states of Kentucky and Indiana are working collaboratively through the bi-state Falls of the Ohio Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee. One of that group's central goals is to "have the Lewis and Clark bicentennial serve as an example of cooperation and fellowship across racial, cultural, and geographic lines and the success that can result from it."

This year, in connection with its 6th Annual National Planning Workshop in Omaha, Nebraska, the Council hosted a "summit meeting" of all bicentennial partners to define our collective bicentennial messages, joint fundraising strategies, cooperative promotional efforts, general direction, and expectations. The session also reinforced and expanded regular and ongoing communication between and among all partners, including an annual partners summit.

And the last key -- personal relationships -- brings into play a less quantifiable, but absolutely indispensable ingredient to the success of any public commemoration. "People who care passionately, who are willing to work hard, and who enjoy endeavoring together can do anything," believes Michelle Bussard, Executive Director of the National Council. Working together for several years now, many of the people who represent their agencies or organizations in the partnership have developed genuine personal friendships around a deeply personal national historical event.

For more information about the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, the work of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, or any of its partners, log on at www.lewisandclark200.org or call 1.888.999.1803.

By: Sammye Meadows, Cultural Awareness Coordinator

National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial

April 2001