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NPS Awards $597,500 for Montana L&C Projects

NPS Awards $597,500 for Montana L&C Projects - 6/24/02
HELENA – The National Park Service has awarded a total of $597,500 to support 27 Lewis and Clark commemoration projects across Montana, Montana Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission Executive Director Clint Blackwood announced Monday.
"This is further evidence of how important Montana is to the national bicentennial commemoration,” Blackwood said. “We were pleased that 27 of the 48 projects we proposed were funded. The next nearest state to us in total projects funded was Washington with 17.”
The Challenge Cost Share program for the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail provides matching grants for projects that provide “new or enhance opportunity for protection, interpretation, or recreation at sites or segments along the trail.”
The Park Service funded a total of 192 projects trail-wide for a total of $4.95 million, Blackwood said.
“This is real money for real projects on the ground. This shows how hard Lewis and Clark organizations in Montana are working to get the state ready for the bicentennial,” Blackwood said.
Here are the Montana sponsoring organizations, projects and amount of grants:
- Salish Kootenai College – Awarded $50,000 to re-produce the meeting between Lewis and Clark and the Salish on Sept 4, 1805, and for educational materials to interpret it.
- Pompeys Pillar Historical Association – Awarded $50,000 to build the interpretive components of the new visitor center at the site where William Clark carved his name in stone.
- City of Great Falls – Awarded $50,000 to support the National Signature Lewis and Clark event that will be centered in Great Falls and along that portion of the Missouri River on July 3 and 4 2005.
- Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes – Awarded $50,000 to hire a Lewis and Clark commemoration coordinator for the area, provide river access and build interpretive camps for education concerning the tribes history and culture.
- VIAs Inc. – Awarded $40,000 to develop an interactive, graphic, educational description of all the military aspects of the Lewis and Clark story to be placed on a web site and used in state visitor center kiosks.
- Montana Tribal Tourism Alliance – Awarded $40,000 to provide central coordination and resources for all Montana tribes who will be participating in bicentennial activities.
- Going to the Sun Institute – Awarded $30,000 to conduct oral histories dealing with Lewis and Clark encounters and affects on Native Americans at that time and up to present, and making it available to the public.
- Little Big Horn College – Awarded $30,000 to develop curriculum and cultural research serving oral history and language preservation for the Apsaalooke or Crow.
- The University of Montana-Missoula – Awarded $30,000 to produce a symposium from May 28 to 31, 2003, to identify and nurture emerging Native American scholars and their research regarding the effects of the expedition on their cultures and worldviews and provide a national forum for their research.
- Blackfeet Tribe – Awarded $20,000 to plan develop and construct a Blackfeet Lewis and Clark visitor center on the reservation.
- Yellowstone County Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $20,000 to place interpretation kiosks and information in Billings Airport and other locations.
- Department of Anthropology University of Montana – Awarded $20,000 to take primary data most of which is all ready existing, synthesize it into a collective look at the changes to the cultures of the Northwest Plains Indian people after the encounters with Lewis and Clark.
- Montana State University – Awarded $20,000 for the first of four kiosk displays, which will be placed at ranch sites along the Lewis and Clark trail.
- Montana Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $20,000 to fabricate and install additional statewide Lewis and Clark interpretive signs.
- Chippewa Cree Community Development – Awarded $20,000 to build living history village for Chippewa Cree Community in Montana and other assorted products in conjunction with the bicentennial.
- Blackfeet Tribe – Awarded $20,000 to research, document and publish Peigan Blackfeet history to increase public understanding and appreciation through historical interpretation of the tribe.
- Yellowstone County Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $10,000 to produce 10 one-minute radio programs dealing with Native American stories about Lewis and Clark and do other programs to be aired across the state and provided to schools, libraries and others.
- Western Montana L&C Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $10,000 to create waysides areas and interpretive signs along Bitterrroot Corridor of trail.
- Lewis and Clark Honor Guards – Awarded $10,000 to develop standards for products, guidelines for dress and objects and safety standards to be published in guidebook for training of re-enactors.
- Valley County Historical Society – Awarded $10,000 to develop a L&C exhibit to tell the local story and about the sites of the expedition.
- Bitter Root Valley Historical Society – Awarded $10,000 to enhance the museum Discovery Room and an existing display of L&C story in the valley.
- Lewis and Clark County Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $10,000 to build a vista house at the site of Devil’s Elbow and to involve students and the State Commission in the overall project.
- Rivers Across Sweet Grass County Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $7,000 for an interpretive kiosk on Clark on the Yellowstone at Crazy Mountain Museum.
- Portage Route Chapter – Awarded $5,000 to continue its scholar in residence program.
- Montana L&C Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $5,000 to fund part of the costs for the annual state planning conference.
- Lincoln School – Awarded $5,000 to produce a hands-on learning opportunity for students regarding the Blackfoot Valley, which Lewis traveled on his side trip during the return.
- Lewis and Clark Interpretive Association – Awarded $3,000 to produce three videos detailing life in 1805 for a traveling trunk program.
- Montana L&C Bicentennial Commission – Awarded $2,500 to support distribution of challenge cost share project pass through money.
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For more information please contact:
The Montana Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission
PO Box 201203
Helena, MT 59620-1203
(406) 443-2109
(406) 444-2686 (fax)
rcortright@mt.gov
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