PRINTER'S NO. 1679
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
326
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY VOGEL, BARTOLOTTA, BLAKE, BROWNE, COSTA, DINNIMAN,
HUGHES, RAFFERTY, RESCHENTHALER, SCHWANK, VULAKOVICH AND
YUDICHAK, APRIL 20, 2018
REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, APRIL 20, 2018
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Congress of the United States to adopt the National
Park Service's recommendations to extend the Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail to include additional sites along the
Lewis and Clark Expedition's Eastern Legacy.
WHEREAS, The Lewis and Clark Expedition (Expedition) and the
Corps of Discovery are nationally significant for their
exploration of the Louisiana Territory and search for an all
water route to the Pacific Ocean; and
WHEREAS, Under orders by President Thomas Jefferson, the
expedition was responsible for mapping the territory explored,
as well as documenting new species of plants and animals and
engaging with the Native American tribes they encountered; and
WHEREAS, Although part of the route was unmapped territory,
the Lewis and Clark Expedition was able to use maps provided to
them by Native Americans, European explorers and fur traders;
and
WHEREAS, Ultimately, the expedition was able to link routes
and maps together to find passage from St. Louis to the Pacific
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Ocean, a feat that had never before been accomplished; and
WHEREAS, In order to recognize the historic significance of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the National Park Service
previously designated a trail that runs from Wood River,
Illinois, to the West Coast in Oregon and Washington; and
WHEREAS, Public Law 110-229, passed by the Congress of the
United States in 2008, authorized the Secretary of the Interior
to study additional sites associated with the preparation and
return phases of the expedition, located in Pennsylvania,
Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, West
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri and
Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Those sites were to be considered for inclusion in
the "Eastern Legacy" of the expedition; and
WHEREAS, The National Park Service evaluated 25 distinct
route segments used by the Corps of Discovery for the expedition
to determine if they met the criteria for national significance
established by the National Trails System Act; and
WHEREAS, In August 2016, the National Park Service published
its Draft Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Extension
Study, finding that three sections met the criteria established
for inclusion in the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail;
and
WHEREAS, Those segments include the Ohio River, from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Louisville, Kentucky; from
Louisville, Kentucky, to the confluence with the Mississippi
River; and from the Mississippi River's confluence with the Ohio
River at Cairo, Illinois, to Wood River, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, A portion of the proposed extension of the Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail includes sites along the Ohio
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River in this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, The inclusion of this segment along the Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail is not only historically
significant and appropriate, but may have a positive economic
impact on those sites; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
urge the Congress of the United States to adopt the National
Park Service's recommendation to extend the Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail to include the additional sites along
the Lewis and Clark Expedition's Eastern Legacy; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the presiding officers of each chamber of Congress and to each
member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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