+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # Agriculture, environmental issues tackled                           |
|                                                                       |
| By Lisa Chamley                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Pierre Capital Journal                                                |
|                                                                       |
| Thursday, January 16, 2003                                            |
|                                                                       |
| The secretaries of the Department of Agriculture, Game, Fish & Parks  |
| and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources met with a    |
| joint House and Senate ag and natural resources committee meeting on  |
| Thursday morning.                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| John Cooper, secretary of GF&P, touched on the continuous battle for  |
| water between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state\'s       |
| needs.                                                                |
|                                                                       |
| \"If the federal government continues to manager the water to support |
| navigation downstream, even though we have drought conditions in the  |
| upper basin, then somebody better explain to us or help us with our   |
| recreation facilities being impacted,\" Cooper said.                  |
|                                                                       |
| The boat ramps on Lake Oahe will likely be unusable by late July if   |
| the drought continues and water is released for downstream needs.     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

**Low water on rivers bedevils navigation here**

By Bill Smith

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003

## The quickly falling Mississippi River claimed its first casualties of the new year on Tuesday - three barges loaded with ethanol and benzene.  The Coast Guard office in St. Louis said there were no injuries or pollution from the grounding of the barges on the Illinois side of the river near Hartford, shortly before noon.  Blame it on the not-quite-so-mighty Mississippi, which threatens to drop to its lowest levels since 1989, according to river officials.  Low water levels also forced the temporary closing of the Casino Queen on Tuesday. A casino spokesman said the low water made the gambling boat inaccessible. Operations are expected to resume at 9 a.m. today.  If ice jams develop on the Missouri River, the Mississippi here eventually could approach the record low water of January 1940, further squeezing businesses already struggling to deal with the shrinking waterway.  \"The good news is the ice is driving the eagles south for people here to be able to see them,\" said Alan Dooley, chief of public affairs for the Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis. \"The bad news is it\'s also lowering the water in the Mississippi.\"  The river reading was at minus 3.5 feet Tuesday, which means the main channel was about 9 feet deep, Dooley said.  It was expected to drop to minus 4.3 feet by Wednesday and minus 4.9 feet by Thursday before rebounding slightly to minus 4.6 feet by Friday.  A minus 4.9 reading at St. Louis would be the lowest water level here since December 1989, when officials recorded a reading of minus 5.1 feet. The level reached minus 5.6 feet in 1964 and was minus 6.2 feet in January 1940 - the lowest ever recorded.  The river level at St. Louis is based on an arbitrary \"zero\" mark established during a particularly low water period in 1863. At that mark, the main channel is about 12.5 feet deep.  The Coast Guard reported that the three-barge tow of the Walter E. Blessey ran aground shortly before noon near Hartford. Two of the barges were freed quickly; the third remained stuck several hours later.  Last month, several barges ran aground near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge before the corps dredge Potter was brought in to help deepen the channel.  Dave Busse with the corps said Tuesday that a \"fairly sizable\" drought in northern Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas has combined with freezing creeks and smaller waterways to drastically decrease water flow into the Mississippi.  Still, he said, \"I wouldn\'t be alarmed.  \"The river will still be there tomorrow; low water is natural.\"  Chris Brescia, president of MARC 2000, an acronym for Midwest Area River Coalition 2000, said Tuesday that \"this is a difficult situation that\'s getting worse\" for those who rely on the river to move their product.  He estimates that the abnormally low water levels are costing the industry \$10 million a month.  Under more normal conditions, he said, a tow might be able to move from 30 to 35 barges at a time. Because of the low water, he said, a tow is moving about 15 barges at a time.  The companies also are not able to load as much material on the barges out of concern that the heavier barges could run aground.  Coast Guard officials on Tuesday issued a safety advisory, asking tow operators between Cairo, Ill., and St. Louis to limit their tows. The officials asked operators to keep loaded northbound tows to five barges long and three barges wide.  Southbound tows were advised to limit tow sizes to five barges long and four barges wide.  On the Missouri River, water levels also were significantly below normal. At Hermann, Mo., for instance, the level was 5 feet below normal.  But Paul Johnston, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers in Omaha, said commercial traffic on the Missouri stops in early December and does not resume until early April. 

## 

##  Missouri River Basin Stakeholders Reach Consensus

## First Time in Fourteen Years

News Release

Coalition to Save Missouri River

Friday, Jan. 17, 2003

HIGBEE, Mo. -- The Missouri River Basin faced opposition, strife and
discord since 1988 when a severe drought precipitated a review of the
Missouri River Master Manual, the guidance document for Missouri River
operations. In the midst of another severe drought, a new day dawned as
consensus returned to the Basin after 14 years. Consensus came in a
letter to Steven A. Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) dated January 16.

In that letter, co-signors Sue Lowry, president of the Missouri River
Basin Association (MRBA), and Chris Brescia, chairman of the Coalition
to Protect the Missouri River (CPR), stated, "The Missouri River Basin
is experiencing severe drought conditions for its third to fifth
consecutive year, depending upon geographic location. This ongoing
drought has reduced water storage in reservoirs by nearly 13 million
acre-feet below average according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers'
(Corps) estimates. These extraordinary circumstances are creating great
Basin hardships; therefore, every action should be taken in '03 to
conserve the limited water resources in the Basin to allow for all
project purposes to be met as long as possible.

"One option that can save up to 800,000 acre-feet of water, depending
upon tributary inflow, is for the Corps to include flow-to-target rather
than steady releases in the Final 2003 Missouri River Annual Operating
Plan (AOP). Flow-to-target releases use substantially less water as
tributary inflows are used to augment navigation target needs."

To aid implementation of this water conservation measure, Lowry and
Brescia urged the USFWS to allow the Corps to relocate the nests and
chicks of endangered or threatened bird species susceptible to
inundation from Gavins Point releases. Fledge ratios were consistently
met and population numbers increased for the piping plover and interior
least tern throughout the past several years. Given the fledge ratio and
population number successes of these birds, the two coalitions believe
it is reasonable to authorize relocation in '03 to assure more water is
available for Basin uses.

"Flow-to-target releases and relocation authorization combine to make
this possible and are prudent measures during this unique situation.
These recommendations provide the basis for an AOP that better meets the
vast diversity of needs in the Missouri River Basin during this dire
drought condition," said Lowry and Brescia.

-30-

*The Missouri River Basin Association (MRBA) is a coalition of
Governor-appointed representatives from each of eight Missouri River
Basin states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
South Dakota, and Wyoming) and the Executive Director of the Mni Sose
Tribal Water Rights Coalition. 
[www.mrba-missouri-river.com](http://www.mrba-missouri-river.com/)*

*The Coalition to Protect the Missouri River (CPR) represents the
diverse interests of agricultural, navigational, industrial, utility and
business-related entities. CPR supports responsible management of
Missouri River resources and the maintenance of congressionally
authorized purposes of the river including flood control and navigation.
CPR also supports habitat restoration for endangered or threatened
species.
[www.ProtectTheMissouri.com](http://www.ProtectTheMissouri.com/)*

**On Missouri, 2002 was 10th-driest on record**

Waterways Journal

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003

The year 2002 was one of the driest on record in the Missouri River
basin, and judging by an early indicator of mountain snowpack, 2003 is
shaping up to be similarly arid.

On a river where commercial navigators and farmers in the lower basin
are battling almost constantly with upper-basin interests over water,
continued drought is not good news.

Last year was characterized by a shortage of snow in the mountains and
below-normal precipitation throughout the basin. The Corps of
Engineers\' Missouri River Basin Water Management Division in Omaha,
Neb., keeps track of the amount of rainfall, plus the amount of water
that enters the river from melting snow. The resulting number, called
runoff, is measured in million acre-feet (MAF); one acre-foot is the
amount of water necessary to cover one acre of land with one foot of
water.

In 2002, runoff was 16 million MAF less than 65 percent of the "normal"
year runoff of 25.2 MAF

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # Oahe boat ramps need \$8.4 million                                  |
|                                                                       |
| By Dorinda Daniel                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| Pierre Capital Journal                                                |
|                                                                       |
| Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003                                                |
|                                                                       |
| **An advisory group studying Missouri River boat ramps has            |
| recommended that \$8.4 million in emergency funding be sought to keep |
| 12 boat ramp sites on Lake Oahe in operation this summer.**           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The 12 sites are West Pollock Recreation Area, Indian Creek           |
| Recreation Area, Swan Creek Recreation Area, West Whitlock Recreation |
| Area, Bush\'s Landing Lakeside Use Area, Spring Creek Recreation      |
| Area, West Shore Lakeside Use Area, Indian Memorial, Minneconjou      |
| Lakeside Use Area, Cow Creek Recreation Area, East Whitlock Lakeside  |
| Use Area and Walth Bay Lakeside Use Area.                             |
|                                                                       |
| Former Gov. Bill Janklow appointed a 13-member advisory group in      |
| September to review a S.D. Department of Game, Fish and Parks study   |
| of improvements that could be made to Missouri River boat ramps to    |
| keep boat ramp sites operating, especially during low water, and the  |
| cost of doing that work.                                              |
|                                                                       |
| \"What we did as a task force was identify the most critical boat     |
| access sites between the North Dakota border and Iowa,\" said Mike    |
| Broderick of Canton, the group\'s co-chairman. Committee members from |
| Pierre were Chris Hesla, Sharla Garrett and John Henderson.           |
|                                                                       |
| The group, in a letter written to Janklow during his final days as    |
| governor, found that improvements need to be made at a minimum of 12  |
| boat ramp sites on Lake Oahe. If the water level of Lake Oahe keeps   |
| dropping as predicted, none of the boat ramps on that reservoir will  |
| reach the water by mid-summer. In addition, improvements need to be   |
| made to another 43 boat ramps throughout the Missouri River in South  |
| Dakota.                                                               |
|                                                                       |
| The group recommended that the 2003 Legislature adopt a resolution    |
| encouraging the state\'s congressional delegation to advance          |
| legislation to secure federal funding for all boat ramp improvements  |
| recommended by GF&P.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| The group also recommended that South Dakota\'s congressional         |
| delegation seek \$8.4 million in emergency federal funding this year  |
| to make immediate improvements at the 12 boat ramp sites on Lake Oahe |
| identified as having the highest priority.                            |
|                                                                       |
| The congressional delegation would also be encouraged to introduce    |
| legislation to establish a trust fund that could be used to improve   |
| 43 other Missouri River boat ramps and to address access needs in the |
| future. No dollar amount was specified. The total cost of improving   |
| all 55 boat ramp sites has been estimated at \$23.6 million.          |
|                                                                       |
| The advisory group placed each of the 55 boat ramp sites studied into |
| one of four groups, with group A being the most critical to group D   |
| being the least critical. However, the advisory group decided that    |
| the 12 boat ramps in groups A and B on Lake Oahe are the most         |
| critical at this time and should be extended before any other boat    |
| ramp projects are funded.                                             |
|                                                                       |
| The criteria used was visitation to the site by the public, the       |
| needed improvements, the cost of the improvements, comments received  |
| during public meetings and other comments made by the public,         |
| Broderick said.                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| \"We feel all the boat ramp access areas listed are important, not    |
| just to South Dakotans but to all who use boat ramps,\" Broderick     |
| said.                                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| Many at a public meeting that took place in Pierre asked that the     |
| boat ramp at Chantier Creek be improved.                              |
|                                                                       |
| \"We feel the Chantier Creek is very important access ramp to the     |
| Pierre area and West River residents, but it doesn\'t have a          |
| visitation that other ramps have on Lake Oahe. It got a lower rating  |
| because of that,\" Broderick said.                                    |
|                                                                       |
| Copies of the recommendation were provided to Janklow, Gov. Mike      |
| Rounds, and the Game, Fish and Parks Commission.                      |
|                                                                       |
| The next step is to wait for Janklow\'s response to the               |
| recommendations, said Bob Schneider of GF&P.                          |
|                                                                       |
| \"He\'s the one who wanted a study,\" Schneider said.                 |
|                                                                       |
| Sites in group A, the top priority, were West Pollock, Indian Creek,  |
| Swan Creek, West Whitlock, Bush\'s Landing, Spring Creek and West     |
| Shore on Lake Oahe; West Bend, Farm Island and the marina in Pierre   |
| on Lake Sharpe; American Creek and Snake Creek on Lake Francis Case;  |
| and East Midway on Lewis and Clark Lake.                              |
|                                                                       |
| In group B, the next highest level, were Indian Memorial,             |
| Minneconjou, Cow Creek, East Whitlock and Walth Bay on Lake Oahe; Joe |
| Creek, Fort George, North Shore and Big Bend on Lake Sharpe;          |
| Buryanek, Platte Creek, South Scalp Creek and Cedar Shore Resort on   |
| Lake Francis Case; and Springfield and Gavins Point on Lewis and      |
| Clark Lake.                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| In group C were Little Bend, Chantier Creek, Lighthouse Pointe, Shaw  |
| Creek, East Shore, Sutton Bay, Lighthouse Pointe Marina and Indian    |
| Creek Marina on Lake Oahe; Antelope Creek on Lake Sharpe; Fort        |
| Randall Marina, Elm Creek, West Bridge and White Swan on Lake Francis |
| Case; and Tabor and Sand Creek on Lewis and Clark Lake.               |
|                                                                       |
| In group D were Peoria Flats, Okobojo Point, Forest City, Bob\'s      |
| Resort, Dodge Draw, Thomas Bay and Pike Haven on Lake Oah;, De Grey   |
| and North Bend on Lake Sharpe; Dude Ranch and Joe Day Bay on Lake     |
| Francis Case; and West Midway on Lewis and Clark Lake.                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

**Midwest drought threatens farms, rivers, tourism**

By SCOTT KILMAN

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

CHICAGO \-- A severe drought that began in the Great Plains is engulfing
the Midwest this winter, snarling the Mississippi River, crippling
snow-dependent businesses and increasing the likelihood for poor crops
at a time when the nation\'s grain supply is precariously low.

![](media/image1.png){width="2.6770833333333335in"
height="3.4583333333333335in"}

While winter storms have ended the long drought on the East Coast, the
weather pattern since November has created a rare snow drought from
Nebraska to the Great Lakes.

Omaha, Kansas City, Mo., and Des Moines, Iowa, all recorded their driest
Decembers ever. The dry weather is helping Midwest cities save money
they would otherwise spend clearing streets, but it is also sending a
chill through the economies of towns that count on tourists seeking
snowmobile trails and cross-country ski runs. Officials in Wisconsin are
launching a \$1 million advertising campaign to encourage people to come
north anyway.

\"Everything is down,\" said Linda Fryer, administrative director of the
Chamber of Commerce in Ely, a northern Minnesota town of 3,800, which
depends upon snowmobile enthusiasts to keep its motels, gasoline
stations and eateries busy during the winter.

Barely four inches of snow cover local trails, compared with the two
feet of snow that usually blankets the area this time of year, and far
less than is needed to safely operate a snowmobile. Many of the people
who participated in the town\'s annual snowmobile festival last weekend
traveled the route in pickup trucks.

Roger Skraba, who owns Ya Ta Hey snowmobile rentals in Ely, said
tourists are beginning to cancel reservations, costing him \$150 a day
for every idled vehicle. \"I\'m getting tired of being dependent on the
weather,\" he says.

Sales of snowmobiles, which retail for as much as \$10,000 each, are
expected to fall by more than 5% this season since business is
concentrated in the upper Midwest.

The cause of the dry winter across the central U.S. is in the equatorial
Pacific Ocean, where a temporary rise in sea-surface temperatures is
changing weather patterns. The phenomenon, known as El Nino, tends to
increase the amount of storms across the southern U.S., which robs
moisture from storms in the northern Rockies and Midwest.

Jon B. Davis, a meteorologist at Salomon Smith Barney in Chicago, said
this El Nino episode peaked in November and is weakening. But its effect
will likely linger at least into the spring, setting the stage for an
anxiety-filled growing season in the Midwest, which was sideswiped last
year by the drought in the Great Plains \-- affecting, among other
states, Colorado, Nebraska and Montana. That catastrophe, by some
preliminary estimates, generated more than \$10 billion in damage to
crops and livestock.

The Mississippi, which many farmers depend upon for hauling their grain
to foreign customers, is so shallow in spots that shippers already are
worried about disruptions through the year. Last week, the Coast Guard
took the unusual step of closing the river to barge traffic around St.
Louis after several vessels ran aground. While the river has since
reopened, barge operators are being forced to slash the weight of their
loads, costing the shipping industry about \$2 million a day.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River at
St. Louis is about 10 feet lower than normal, and is at its lowest level
since 1989. Although ice closes much of the upper Mississippi to
navigation during the winter, the St. Louis port usually stays open,
funneling petroleum products, coal and raw material for steel up the
Illinois River to Chicago.

The lack of snow by itself has little bearing on the size of Midwest
harvests next fall. Farmers in the Midwest don\'t depend on snow for
moisture; they get it from rain. But the dry winter does signal a
continuation of problems for the wheat farmers and ranchers farther west
on the Great Plains, where many rely on snow-fed rivers for water. That,
in turn, could mean further headaches for the nation\'s food companies,
which raised prices of products such as cookies and crackers by 3% to 4%
last year to account for a drought-related increase in wheat prices.

After four years of drought in wheat-growing states such as Montana, the
nation\'s grain supply is unusually low. U.S. wheat farmers last year
harvested their smallest crop in 30 years. As a result, grain traders
expect U.S. wheat reserves \-- the amount remaining before the start of
this year\'s harvests \-- to shrink to 418 million bushels, half of what
was available for making everything from bread to breakfast cereal just
two years ago.

Not enough snow is falling in the Rocky Mountains to fully refill
several of the rivers that sustain irrigation projects on the Plains. As
a result, some government agencies are already preparing to reimpose
water restrictions on farmers that will likely result in stunted crops
this year in places such as Wyoming and Nebraska, where the Platte River
system supplies hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. Last summer,
many farmers along the Platte received half the water they usually do.

The Wyoming reservoirs that supply the Platte system now contain half
the water that they did three years ago, and the snow pack on the
mountains that supply them is 70% of the average for this time of year,
according to the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

Consumers are also paying a price for the drought at the meat counter.
Pastures were so dry last year in states such as Kansas and Colorado
that many ranchers had to shrink the size of their cattle herds. Now,
there is less meat available. John M. Urbanchuk, an economist at LECG
LLC in Wayne, Pa., said he expects retail meat prices to climb about 6%
this year. Largely as a result of that, he sees the Consumer Price Index
for all food climbing 2.8% in 2003, compared with last year\'s 1.8%
rise.

The dry winter is also sending a chill through the crop-insurance
industry. The nation\'s biggest crop insurer, American Growers Insurance
Co., failed and was put under the control of Nebraska\'s insurance
regulator last month.

The federal government, which spends about \$3 billion annually to
subsidize crop-insurance premiums and prop up the business in other
ways, is obligated to make good on unpaid claims to farmers. As a
result, the company\'s failure is expected to cost the federal
government tens of millions of dollars, according to people familiar
with the matter.

**In retelling history, a chance for healing**

By JIM BARNETT

Oregonian

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \-- For Native Americans, the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial is no occasion to celebrate. Although history remembers the
famous expedition as the opening of a continent, Native Americans recall
the suffering of their ancestors and the destruction of civilizations
that had thrived for 10,000 years.

But in contrast to 1992, when tribes protested 500th anniversary
celebrations of Christopher Columbus\' voyage, some Native American
leaders said they hoped to channel public interest in Lewis and Clark
into a national dialogue with reconciliation as its goal.

\"That\'s the only way there will be any growth for anyone, is through
that process,\" said Dick Basch, a Clatsop from Seaside, Ore., who
joined the Rev. Alan Kitto of the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska in
blessing the official opening of the bicentennial. \"It does no good to
cry your heart out without doing something with that.\"

About 125 tribal members joined academics and history buffs last week at
the University of Virginia and at President Thomas Jefferson\'s
Monticello home to kick off the bicentennial. The expedition grew out of
Jefferson\'s keen interest in exploring the frontier, and historians
trace its start to his Jan. 18, 1803, request to Congress for funding.

Public events began Tuesday with the blessing ceremony near Monticello
at the Corps of Discovery II, a mobile interpretive center operated by
the National Park Service. The center will showcase Native Americans\'
role in the journey while retracing the expedition\'s path.

Tribal leaders said they hope the four-year commemoration will help them
achieve three overarching goals: Protection of tribal communities and
culture through federal recognition, revitalization of native languages
and protection of artifacts. Development of tribal economies through
increased promotion of museums and cultural centers as thousands, maybe
millions, of tourists travel Lewis and Clark\'s trail. A retelling of
the history of the expedition \-- and of Western settlement \-- from the
perspective of tribes, including those that fed, clothed and sheltered
the explorers.

That retelling can be a wrenching experience, as Kitto\'s blessing
showed an audience of about 500 people.

Kitto performed \"The Wiping of the Tears,\" a healing ceremony to
symbolize the passing of sorrow and hatred. Between prayers accompanied
by drumbeat, Kitto told how tribes from the Midwestern plains were
forced to move to reservations during the mid-1800s. When they revolted,
he said, 38 Sioux warriors were executed in a mass hanging.

Kitto cited the government\'s treatment of the Sioux as one of many acts
of terrorism committed against tribes that had been forgotten by
history. Kitto said he used the term \"terror\" in the wake of the Sept.
11 attacks to convey the horror that tribes experienced at the hands of
the U.S. government.

As Kitto spoke, some in the audience cringed or looked down in distress.

\"I thought they would understand because we knew what terror was,\"
Kitto said afterward.

Sammye Meadows, national coordinator for the Circle of Tribal Advisors,
said she said regarded Kitto\'s characterization as accurate,
appropriate \-- and helpful if it leads people to empathize with the
tribes\' loss.

\"It was terrorism,\" she said. \"It was genocide. There\'s no way
around that.\"

Tribal role debated The scope and tenor of tribes\' role in the
bicentennial were the subject of intense discussion among tribal and
federal officials in the months before the opening ceremonies, Meadows
and other participants said.

An early nod of respect to the tribes was the Park Service\'s decision
to treat the event as a commemoration rather than the kind of purely
patriotic celebrations that marked the 200th anniversary of the signing
of the Declaration of Independence in 1976.

\"Yes, there are bad things, and we need to know about what happened,\"
said Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa who serves as superintendent of the
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. \"But we need to take it beyond
that and find out where we\'re going to go.\"

Tribal leaders decided they did not want to demand an apology or to turn
the bicentennial into a long-running protest, Meadows said. Leaders
agreed in general terms that they wanted to send a positive message
about the tribes\' hopes for the future.

\"It\'s about participation this time around, as opposed to
protesting,\" she said.

One element of tribes\' public presentations will be a mirror-image of
traditional histories of the explorers as conquerors of untamed
wilderness. In fact, many tribes helped the explorers and introduced
them to the customs of their well-established societies.

\"It wasn\'t a wilderness to the people who lived there,\" Meadows said.
\"It was home.\"

Tribal leaders said they also plan to talk about their individual
histories as nations with distinct cultures. The Park Service\'s
interpretive center is intended to serve as a platform for the tribes\'
stories, as well as traditional versions of the expedition\'s history.

Cliff Snider, an honorary chief of the Chinooks, was among those invited
to speak at the center during its stop in Charlottesville. He said he
hopes to teach his audience about the Chinooks\' dealings with Lewis and
Clark, and about the tribe\'s struggle to win government recognition.

\"Every tribe has a different agenda,\" said Snider, who lives in
Portland.

In addition to the Chinooks and Clatsops, the Umatilla, Grand Ronde,
Cowlitz and Yakama tribes from Oregon and Washington state joined the
advisory group preparing for the bicentennial.

In all, 31 of 58 major U.S. tribes and confederations joined the
leadership group.

Basch said he wouldn\'t miss the chance to be part of history. His
family always has taken a strong interest in Lewis and Clark \-- in part
because his great-great-grandfather owned the infamous Clatsop canoe the
desperate explorers stole.

The bicentennial, he said, is an opportunity for all Americans to
examine their individual and collective character \-- and to resolve to
do better.

\"If we can view ourselves as good and humble people, then we can learn
to love, we can learn to respect, we can learn to share,\" Basch said.
\"There has to be the reconciliation for all people.\"

**Lewis and Clark festivities set out to teach tolerance\
**

**Bicentennial of expedition opens with events at Jefferson\'s home**\
\
By Bill Lambrecht\
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003\
\
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - As the nation kicked off the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial on Saturday at the home of Thomas Jefferson, organizers
hoped that a 200-year-old adventure story will inspire Americans and
teach tolerance and cooperation.\
\
On a mountaintop in frigid weather like the explorers endured, 3,000
scholars, history buffs, political leaders and American Indians formally
opened the three-year commemoration that will engulf Missouri a year
from now.\
\
Robert P. Archibald, a St. Louisan and president of National Council of
the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, told the crowd that that beyond being
a tale of risk and courage, the saga of Lewis and Clark\'s mostly
friendly trek through Indian land has meaning for a troubled world.\
\
\"I think that in the bewildering wake of September 11 and with the
potential of war looming right in front of us, we yearn for amity
between people and answers to our conflicts that need not involve
slaughter and the other hazards of war,\" said Archibald, president of
the Missouri Historical Society.\
\
The main celebration of the 1804 journey of Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark that opened the American West will begin next year, with four of
the 15 \"signature\" events taking place in the St. Louis area. Part of
the cost will be paid for by proceeds from a commemorative silver dollar
that was unveiled Saturday by the U.S. Mint.\
\
Millions of Americans are expected to take part in the celebration, with
many retracing the journey by automobile.

The bicentennial kickoff on the west lawn of Monticello, Jefferson\'s
home, marked the 200th anniversary of the third president\'s secret
letter to Congress seeking authorization for the expedition and the sum
of \$2,500 to outfit the explorers\' Corps of Discovery.\
\
The expedition eventually cost \$40,000. Interior Secretary Gale Norton
noted at the ceremony, \"Even then there were cost overruns.\"\
\
Gov. Bob Holden, who was on hand for the chilly proceedings, said the
Lewis and Clark anniversary will afford Missourians the opportunity to
revel in their rich history. Before the ceremonies, Holden convened a
meeting of Missouri officials who had traveled to Virginia and
instructed them to make the bicentennial an integral part of tourism,
education and economic planning.\
\
Missourians played a key role in the kickoff, as they will throughout
the bicentennial.\
\
On Friday night at the University of Virginia, the University of
Missouri\'s Show-Me Opera Company performed the nation\'s first musical
drama of the famous journey.\
\
On Saturday, the Lewis & Clark Fife and Drum Corps of St. Charles opened
the proceedings, and the Discovery Expedition, also of St. Charles,
closed them with volleys from 10 muskets.\
\
Lewis and Clark\'s journey up the Missouri River from St. Charles after
a winter encampment on the Illinois side of the Mississippi was aimed at
establishing a transcontinental water route for trade. They did not find
such a route after reaching the source of the Missouri River in western
Montana because none existed.\
\
Jefferson also charged the explorers with forging peace among the
Indians. Along the way, Lewis, who had been Jefferson\'s neighbor and
personal secretary, and Clark, a prominent Army captain, recorded
volumes of observations in journals that would one day earn them the
distinction from the late historian Donald Jackson as \"the writingest
explorers of all time.\"\
\
Bicentennial organizers are determined to avoid a repeat of the blunders
preceding the 1992 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher
Columbus\' arrival in the New World. Indian tribes, insulted at being
left out, publicized the role of Columbus in their miseries over the
years and formally protested the celebration.\
\
Many American Indians are ambivalent and even hostile toward the journey
of Lewis and Clark, which hastened the arrival of settlers to tribal
lands and precipitated war and slaughter. But for the bicentennial,
tribes have played a key role in planning from the start and occupied
center stage on Saturday with singing, dance and speeches from the dais.

Among Indians and non-Indians alike, the bicentennial is viewed as an
opportunity for the reconciliation that has been elusive since the
descendants of European immigrants drove Indians from their lands.\
\
Both sides also intend to better publicize tribes\' contributions to
Lewis and Clark\'s success. In North Dakota, for instance, the Mandans
gave the explorers shelter, food and even merriment. A young Shoshone
woman, Sacajawea, may have rescued the mission with her wits and
interpreting skills.\
\
Daniel Redelk Gear of the Monacan Nation remarked during a speech that
the government refuses to recognize his Virginia tribe, one of the
tribes that had the longest contact with European settlers.\
\
But taking a conciliatory tone, Gear, who was wearing a feathered
headdress, added, \"I hope that this is a new beginning for all of
us.\"\
\
Dayton Duncan, an author and co-producer with Ken Burns of a documentary
film on Lewis and Clark, said the entire journey presented a lesson in
the spirit of cooperation. He noted the mixed-race members of the
expedition and the many contributions of York, Clark\'s black slave.\
\
\"Before the word multicultural was ever uttered on the North American
continent, the Lewis and Clark expedition was demonstrating it with the
dizzying diversity of Indians that were helping them at every turn,\"
Duncan, who was master of ceremonies on Saturday, said in an interview.\
\
James P. Ronda, a Lewis and Clark scholar from the University of Tulsa
and the featured speaker, said the bicentennial gave the country a
yardstick for measuring what has changed in the environment and in
society in 200 years.\
\
He said the explorers\' saga was complicated and didn\'t offer ready
tonics and easy answers. \"If you want a story of triumph and comfort,
go someplace else. We need to get right with Lewis and Clark, and that
means getting right with a deeply troubled past,\" he said.\
\
The kickoff and events leading up to it are a prelude to the many Lewis
and Clark activities planned in St. Louis next year. Besides being the
site of signature events, many St. Louis institutions - among them the
Art Museum, Science Center, the St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical
Garden - will sponsor bicentennial exhibits and events.\
\
In addition, the Missouri Historical Society has arranged a collection
of rare artifacts that range from Clark\'s elk-skin journal to Lewis\'
telescope that will be on display next year at the History Museum in
Forest Park.\
\
On Saturday at Monticello, young Missourians in the Lewis & Clark Fife
and Drum Corps, ages 12 to 18, were hoping for warmer weather when the
spotlight shines on the St. Louis area.\
\
In 15-degree temperature and an icy west wind, they cut short their
first performance after their frozen fingers could no longer make notes
on the fifes. The failure produced some long faces and even some tears
but after receiving some hand-warmers and a pep talk, the young
performers returned to the proceedings to hit all the right notes.\
\
\"We practiced so hard for this day, and we thought we blew it,\" said
Alex Borisov, 16. \"But later, everybody was pretty proud of themselves.
It was pretty amazing to have the eyes of thousands of people on us.\"

**Lewis-Clark tale one of tears as well as triumph**\
Events planned for bicentennial of journey include Indians\' side

By Rob McDonald

Spokane Spokesman

Sunday, Jan. 19,2003

CHARLOTTES VILLE, Va. \_ No simple truths or comforting answers come
from the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark story.

\"If you want stories of comfort and triumph, go someplace else,\" said
author James Rhonda at a Saturday event commemorating the bicentennial
of the explorers\' journey.

All week long here, Indian leaders have pressed the point that now is
the time to tell their own story their own way.

On the lawn at Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson\'s historic home,
a white historian delivered his own message before a national audience.

\"We need to see this emblematic American journey story through fresh
eyes, through Native eyes,\" Rhonda said. \"We need to get right with
Lewis and Clark. And that means getting right with an often deeply
troubled, troubling past.\"

Saturday marked the 200th anniversary of Jefferson writing a secret memo
to Congress asking for \$2,500 to find a water passage to the Pacific
Ocean.

The three-hour event held in frigid temperatures blended both colonial
and tribal heritages for the 3,000 attendees, captured by newspaper
reporters and TV crews, including C-SPAN.

Saturday\'s ceremony culminated a weeklong kickoff of the bicentennial
of Lewis and Clark\'s expedition from 1804 to 1806. A series of 15
national \"signature events\" continues into 2006. One of the final
events will be in Lewiston and the town of Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez
Perce reservation.

The Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps, in red wool jackets and
bear-fur hats, played \"Explore the Purchase\" \-- the historic
signature song of the expedition. The White Shield Singers of the
Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations sang honor songs around a large drum
set next to Jefferson\'s mansion.

Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians,
explained that in 1925 there were 250,000 Indians in the United States.
Today, there are more than 4 million.

\"We\'re here and we\'re alive and well,\" Hall said.

A corps of colonial-dressed attendees responded with a chorus of \"hip
hip hurray.\"

The U.S. Mint unveiled a new silver coin that replicates the \"peace
medal\" Lewis tried to give to the 50-plus tribes he encountered along
his journey to the Pacific coast. It\'s a \$1 silver coin sold in
Indian-made, tanned and beaded buckskin pouches.

Speakers praised Sacagawea, the Indian interpreter who helped guide the
expedition. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara claim her as their own. They
spell her name Sakakawea, which has been adopted by the North Dakota
state library. The Shoshone, however, also claim Sacagawea. Several
speakers pointed out that she started the journey carrying her
55-day-old baby.

Also praised was York, Clark\'s slave who was dubbed \"Big Medicine\" by
tribes along the journey. He was the first African American man to cast
a recorded vote in American history, said Ron Craig, a Portland-based
author and filmmaker.

\"York\'s story is about the human spirit and survival,\" Craig said,
who added that York asked for his freedom at the journey\'s end and was
denied by Clark.

Poet Karenne Wood, a council member of the Monacan Nation, read a poem
she wrote for the occasion called Homeland.

\"Shadows move west and east, a circle of 200 years,\" Wood recited.
\"Nothing was discovered. Everything was already loved.\"

To show respect, Hall gave away three quilts, including one to Interior
Secretary Gale Norton, whose department is still battling tribes in
court over federal management of Indian land royalties.

Norton read a statement from President Bush and added, \"It is only by
seeing the past from many perspectives and hearing many voices in the
present that America can understand our history and build our future.\"

Hall wrapped the quilt, with a silhouette of Bush sewn into its fabric,
around Norton\'s shoulders. The president had earlier agreed to speak at
Saturday\'s ceremony, but later canceled.

\"The journey begun here is yet unfinished,\" Rhonda said. \"Dear
friend, the trail beckons. The voices from the past call out to us. Now
is the time to begin.\"

Bottom of Form

**Past trek charts future journey**

By BILL GRAVES

Oregonian

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. \-- More than 2,000 people huddled against bitter
cold outside Thomas Jefferson\'s home Saturday to remember with mixed
emotions Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their long journey to a
place called Oregon.

The bundled crowd, which included at least two dozen Oregonians and
about 60 people from the Northwest, listened to speeches, music and
poetry in a three-hour ceremony that launched the national Lewis and
Clark Bicentennial commemoration. Speakers repeatedly said the 200th
anniversary offered all Americans an opportunity to consider Native
Americans\' perspective on Lewis and Clark.

\"We need to get out of the boat and onto the bank,\" said James Ronda,
a University of Tulsa historian and expert on Lewis and Clark. \"Native
people were at the center of Lewis and Clark\'s journey. They were not
extras, playing bit parts. . . . Without their lines, there really is no
play. Without their voices, we have no American conversation.\"

From one perspective, Lewis and Clark\'s epic 8,000 mile adventure
displayed the best qualities of the American character: courage,
curiosity, confidence, endurance and self-reliance.

The journey \"changed us forever, helping create a continental nation
many of us considered our destiny,\" said filmmaker Ken Burns, who made
a documentary film on Lewis and Clark.

For Native Americans, the trek ushered in the tragic near-loss of their
cultures and ways of life.

\"This story has always been about the land,\" said Roberta \"Bobbie\"
Conner, who lives in Pendleton and is a member of the Confederated
Tribes of Umatilla, during a panel presentation Friday in
Charlottesville. \"Against incredible odds, we have survived the last
200 years.\"

The Virginia event sets the stage for a commemoration that will unfold
over more than three years with at least 14 more key events along the
trail, including one in November 2005 focusing on the explorers\' long,
wet winter at Fort Clatsop near Astoria.

Starting with Jefferson It was 200 years ago Saturday that President
Jefferson sent a letter to Congress asking for \$2,500 that would
support Lewis and Clark and about 50 men in their Corps of Discovery,
which did not get fully under way until 16 months later. Ultimately, the
trip cost nearly \$40,000.

Saturday\'s ceremony was staged on the west porch of Monticello, the
stately brick mansion Jefferson designed for himself with a domed roof,
arched windows and pillars. A light snow and big, bare-branched trees
covered the expansive grounds. The estate peers from the brow of a hill
over Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, founded by
Jefferson.

Some people dressed for the period: Native Americans in colorful
headdresses, history buffs in leather and fur clothes, fife and drum
corps players in red wool uniforms with bear fur hats.

Although the sky was sunny, the air was cold, prompting speakers to note
that Lewis and Clark spent a winter in North Dakota when temperatures
plunged 45 degrees below zero. Still, not everyone was willing to endure
hardship for history. Some left early, and many took breaks to warm up
in heated tents. Gloves and mittens muffled applause.

The event capped a week of activities in Charlottesville, many at the
University of Virginia. Lewis & Clark College of Portland, Ore., brought
professors, students and a collection of books on the explorers. Among
the group was Roger Wendlick, a former construction equipment operator
who retired to study Lewis and Clark and collect artifacts and books
connected with their journey. He gave his collection to the college in
1998 and has been exploring the trail since.

\"I\'ve been waiting years for this,\" he said after the commencement,
dressed in elk skin clothes and a fur badger hat, just as Lewis dressed
on his return trip. \"I\'m living the American dream.\"

Jan Mitchell of Astoria, who will be in charge of organizing Oregon\'s
key event at Fort Clatsop in November 2005, said she hopes to get more
people on the trail. \"There are so many levels to this story,\" she
said.

It is a story about two friends. It is a story about the emerging
identity of a young nation. It is an adventure story that included
fights with grizzlies, harrowing white-water river rides and near
starvation on cold mountain passes.

It is the nation\'s first cross-country road trip, an adventure that
emerges repeatedly in American culture as in Mark Twain\'s \"Huckleberry
Finn,\" William Least Heat-Moon\'s \"Blue Highways,\" even the wild
cross-country journey of Oregon\'s Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters as
recounted by Tom Wolfe in \"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.\"

Ron Craig, 55, a Portland filmmaker, sees the story of American
diversity reflected in the journey. The Corps of Discovery included
Germans, many Frenchmen, Sacagawea, a 15-year-old Shoshone who helped
guide; and York, who was Clark\'s slave and companion from boyhood.

York participated in the group\'s vote to camp on the Oregon side of the
Columbia River, Craig said Saturday in a speech to honor York at
Monticello. \"In 1805, he became the first African American to vote,\"
Craig said. Sacagawea also voted.

Lewis and Clark also hold special meaning for many Oregonians because
they helped establish the Oregon promise of a better place to live, a
promise that would drive thousands over the Oregon Trail four decades
later.

\"They provided the first description of Oregon,\" said Robert
Archibald, president of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial in St. Louis. \"They praised it and sung its beauty.\"

They also cursed its rain, which drenched them nearly every day during
their winter stay at Fort Clatsop in 1805-1806.

Opportunities in new journey Various groups today see ways the
expedition might yield sunnier days. The national council sees it as a
chance to capture national attention and educate Americans about
history, Native American cultures and the environment.

Native Americans see it is a chance to tell their stories, as they did
with great success in Charlottesville.

States, cities and businesses see it as an opportunity to boost tourism
and their sagging local economies.

Surveys predict millions of Americans will flock to the Lewis and Clark
trail in canoes, cars, bicycles, motorcycles and hiking boots, and
thousands already have. Results of a national survey released Friday in
Charlottesville showed 59 percent of Americans are interested in Lewis
and Clark, and 13 percent are aware of the bicentennial.

Still, organizers have had problems raising money. The national council
went broke last fall, pulled up stakes in Portland, where it had been
based, and moved to St. Louis.

A federal project supported by the National Park Service planned to
raise money for a traveling museum exhibit, called Corps of Discovery
II, which would follow the Lewis and Clark trail. The project was to
include actors who would stage re-enactments and three semi-truck
trailers that would convert into a 2,000-square-foot exhibit hall with a
covered stage. But Corps of Discovery II arrived in Chartlottesville in
one semi-truck and trailer and is set up in tents with canvas walls
painted in murals that depict the Lewis and Clark journey.

Lewis & Clark Bicentennial in Oregon also had money problems, but with a
\$100,000 boost from the Legislature, it is now stable and helping
coordinate various Oregon projects, said Barbara Allen, its new
executive director.

Oregon\'s plans are taking shape. Astoria will host a national art show,
Journey\'s End National Art Exhibition, in the Columbia River Maritime
Museum in March. By late spring, a train will run daily between Astoria
and Portland, which already offers Lewis and Clark river tours.

Local communities along the banks of the Columbia, including Portland,
are establishing tours, making trails and preserving sites where the
Corps of Discovery camped. The national Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
exhibit will come to the Oregon Historical Society building in Portland
in November 2005, when the state will be commemorating the expedition\'s
arrival and stay at Fort Clatsop.

In fact, the Lewis and Clark journey \"does not offer us simple truths
or comfortable answers,\" said Ronda, the historian. But it does offer
Americans a time to examine their past and themselves, he said.

\"Journeys should change us,\" he said. \"The journey that began here is
yet unfinished. The trail beckons. Now is the time to begin.\"