Looking Back on 2023: from Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Superintendent

Mark Weekley. Superintendent, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

NPS Photo

About this article: This article was originally published in the Lewis & Clark Trail Annual Report 2023.

Hello, Friends!

Once again it was a great year on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and a great year at the National Park Service Trail headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. We have an outstanding annual report that highlights the projects we have done with our many amazing partners. Trails like ours are very different than most places in the National Park Service where the parks are owned and directly managed by the Federal Government. The successful “management” of the Lewis and Clark NHT is based not on Federal ownership, but on a model of shared responsibility and collaboration with many individuals and organizations who work together to protect, promote, and study the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its trail.

This management team is made up of a wide network of individuals and employees in local, state, and federal governments as well as nonprofit organizations, Tribes, and many others. The trail’s staff and I are proud to be a part of this network, and proud of the work done by the National Park Service and the many volunteers and partners who share in this work.

I want to thank you for your work protecting the trail, conducting research, teaching, and sharing your time, talents, and treasure year after year. I am now in my 15th year as the Superintendent of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Like most of you, once the trail and the stories of the expedition capture our imagination, we want more. We just cannot let it go! I feel incredibly fortunate every day to work with all of you and the amazing staff here in Omaha.

I am excited for the future! I hope you are too!

With gratitude and kind thoughts from me to you, please enjoy this year’s Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail 2023 Annual Report!