LCBO Newsletter - January 2006

Director’s Note: Although Lewis & Clark aren’t in the news right now, great exhibits are continuing, monies are being raised for legacy projects and planning is fully underway for the return of Corps II in the spring. Brace yourselves: My final newsletter will come out in March and will cover activities up to the time LCBO sunsets at the end of June, 2006.

National Program Update

National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Grants are due (via web submission) on January 20th. Although this year’s pot is $2.5 million, there is concern for the long-term viability of this program. As in past funding cycles, LCBO’s Development Director, Angela Sanders, is assisting several Oregon non-profits with their grants. For information about the program, go to: www.nps.gov/lecl.

Circle of State Advisors (COSA) is a committee of the National Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Council and is made up of one representative from each Trail State. Each member plays a key leadership role within their respective state to ensure the success of commemorative efforts. Additionally, we advocate nationally for ongoing support of trail maintenance and legacy projects. Currently chaired by David Nicandri of Washington State, we’ve been meeting frequently before the national commemoration formally closes in St. Louis this September. We are currently lobbying Congress to retain the NPS Challenge Cost Share Program beyond 2006 so that the high quality infrastructure projects constructed during the bicentennial will continue to educate the public about the Lewis & Clark story and the native cultures who were affected by the expedition for generations to come.

Additionally, we are leading an effort to ensure that each state will have inventoried its Lewis & Clark natural and man-made assets and identified the key people responsible for their maintenance. This record will go to the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail offices in Omaha who will be responsible for keeping the inventory current. We also will rely heavily on the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, based in Great Falls, Montana, to continue their leadership role nationally to protect, preserve and promote the Trial.

Regional Program Update

LCBO will sunset June 30, 2006. At their July, 2005, meet, the Board of Directors were presented with a draft dissolution plan which was accepted. Both a logistic and legal timetable was presented by Board Member Chet Orloff and me. In summation, the last general meeting of the Board of Directors will be Friday, March 17, 2006 in St. Helens, Oregon. After that, the LCBO Executive Committee will continue to meet monthly through June when the books close and dissolution paperwork is filed with the state. The Executive Committee will assume post-dissolution responsibilities (if any).

Prior to that dissolution, LCBO will be active, as always, in promoting spring programming regionally as well as the 4 final national signature events. I’m working with the Oregon Heritage Commission and State Archives to capture appropriate records as well as authoring a final report and inventory of assets for the Board, the state, and other interested parties.

In late December, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation awarded LCBO a $20,000 grant to supplement the transportation expenses of Oregon school children to the NPS Corps II traveling museum called ‘Corps II’. As you’ll remember, Corps II first came to Oregon last October and traveled west to the Pacific Ocean. The museum is currently on hiatus and will return this March on its trek eastward. The full schedule is below.

Rolling 2006 Calendar

Ongoing

Cargo Exhibit at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. www.gorgediscovery.org
They Still Speak to Us and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow exhibits as the Museum at Warm Springs. www.warmsprings.biz/museum
Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society. www.ohs.org (through March 11th)

January 2006

January 17: LCBO Board of Directors’ Meet at the Oregon Historical Society, Portland. 1:00 to 3:00pm

January 20: NPS Challenge Cost Share Grants due

March 2006

March 13-20: NPS Corps II traveling museum in St. Helens, Oregon
March 17: Last LCBO Board of Director’s Meet at the City of St. Helens City Hall. 1:00-3:00pm
March 25-April 2: NPS Corps II traveling museum at the Grand Ronde Reservation
March 31: Circle of State Advisors (COSA) meet, Great Falls, Montana

April 2006

April 22 -25: NPS Corps II traveling museum at the Warm Springs Reservation
April 29-May 7: NPS Corps II traveling museum at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, Umatilla Indian Reservation

June 2006

June 13: COSA meet, Lewiston, Idaho
June 14-17: Among the Nimiipuu (The Nez Perce) National Signature Event. Lewiston, Idaho. www.nezperce.org

July 2006

July 15: Opening of the High Desert Museum’s exhibit The Legacy of Lewis & Clark: Exploring the
Far West 1806-2006. www.highdesertmuseum.org
July 22-25: Clark on the Yellowstone National Signature Event. Billings, Montana.
www.clarkontheyellowstone.org