Lewis and Clark fans … Will they come?

An interagency effort to plan for anticipated hordes of Lewis and Clark fans following the expedition through the Gates of the Mountains has "died a quiet death."

Three years ago, state and federal officials who oversee public lands along the Missouri River in the Gates of the Mountains voiced concerns over the potential impacts of 10 million expedition buffs on historic sites.

They noted that even without any special event, camping spots in the Gates area fill every weekend between June and August, with overflow recreationists hanging out on just about every flat, shaded piece of land between Holter and Hauser dams, while watercraft turn the river into a fluid highway.

But so far, Lewis and Clark tourists haven’t materialized, nor have any of the potential restrictions discussed in 2002 by representatives from the Helena National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.

"What happened was that between the various agencies, we could never quite get it together," Helena District Ranger Duane Harp said Wednesday. "We were looking at taking a unified management approach … but it just died a quiet death.

By EVE BYRON – IR Staff Writer

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2005/06/03/montana_top/a01060305_02.txt

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Bicentennial organizers expect mild tourist influx

Dan McMillan
Business Journal managing editor

When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis on May 14, 1804, expectations were high for the expedition into a region unexplored by non-native adventurers. As word of the expedition’s discoveries trickled back to President Thomas Jefferson, those expectations were more than fulfilled.

Two centuries later, cities and states along the Lewis and Clark trail had high hopes for a tourism bounty coming from visitors eager to explore a bit of the legendary route. This time, however, some who pinned their hopes on Lewis and Clark were disappointed.

But leaders of Oregon’s Lewis and Clark bicentennial events are confident the state will get a return from the expedition, even if it doesn’t all come this year.

Rather than hyping the bicentennial by making grand predictions of hundreds of thousands of visitor-laden RVs converging on Oregon, state leaders say they are building attractions with staying power.

"Really, how many people are going to come here? … We have absolutely no idea and all the studies in the world won’t help you," said Barbara Allen, executive director of Oregon’s Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Organization.

Full Story: http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2005/06/06/focus2.html

(Many thanks to Abe Abramson for passing this along – Russ)