The Conservation Fund has joined with the National Park Service, other public agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporate partners to preserve areas along the route taken by the Corps of Discovery led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. From 1804 to 1806 they traveled from Wood River, Illinois to the Pacific Ocean and back.

The Corps traveled more than 3,700 miles along the major rivers—including the Columbia, Yellowstone, and Missouri—and through lands that today are in ten states. The critical lands protected include river frontage, places of significance to American Indians, riparian habitat, and winter range for elk. With our partners, we have set aside more than 25,000 acres along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail—including including approximately 26 miles of river frontage to date.

Project Profiles

Beaverhead River Ranch

The 2,235-acre Beaverhead River Ranch, southwest of Dillon, Montana, includes several miles of the Beaverhead River. Lewis and Clark camped here while they made plans to cross the Bitterroot Range at Lemhi Pass. This stretch of the Beaverhead River is noted for its excellent trout habitat.

The Charbonneau Gravesite

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea, the young Shoshone woman who guided Lewis and Clark, was born at Fort Mandan in 1805 and lived in the West most of his life. He died in Oregon in 1866 on his way from the California gold fields to those in Montana. In partnership with Bruce and Joni Boyle, Oregon ranchers, we protected the area of his gravesite, located on Route 95 south of Danner, west of the Idaho border.

Crimson Bluffs

In 2002 we joined the Crimson Bluffs Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation to add both the Crimson Bluffs and about 200 yards of property on either side of the bluffs to the lands protected in honor of the legendary expedition. With the Bureau of Land Management providing long-term management, the historic view of the Crimson Bluffs described in 1805 by Captain Meriwether Lewis will forever remain unchanged.

Devils Elbow

At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, we helped to acquire 116 acres on the Missouri River in the Chain of Lakes east of Helena. The acres are now a recreation area that includes 1.5 miles of shoreline. There is a pavilion with displays about Lewis and Clark. The property was acquired.

The Lewis & Clark Heritage Greenway

With easements on 2,415 acres east of Great Falls along the Missouri River, the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Greenway begins across from the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and continues downstream to Sulphur Springs. The Montana Power Company donated the easements to The Fund and subsequently we donated them to the Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks Commission.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Park

In 2004 we purchased 921 acres from Weyerhaeuser for inclusion in the newly established Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Designated one of the nation’s top conservation priorities by the National Park Service, the property includes land critical to the construction of the Fort to Sea Trail, which will connect the Fort Clatsop National Memorial to Sunset Beach State Park and the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

McMaster Ranch

Overlooking the Missouri River Valley, the 5,600-acre McMaster Ranch teems with antelope, bighorn sheep, and elk. Located 15 miles outside of Helena, the ranch sits along Spokane Creek on the western shore of Hauser Lake and Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark journeyed through this area, noting the spectacular cliffs and the picturesque Helena Valley in their journals. We purchased the ranch on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management to help shield the Missouri River and nearby Elkhorn Mountains from encroaching development.

Neu’s Point State Wildlife Management Area

The partnership of The Fund, the American Foundation for Wildlife, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service made possible the establishment of the Neu’s Point State Wildlife Management Area at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in northwestern North Dakota. The acquisition protects nearly 400 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat as well as land where Lewis and Clark traveled. The project also launched a multi-million dollar conservation initiative to preserve historic and environmentally significant land along river corridors in North Dakota.

Ponca State Park 1

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, assisted by The Fund, purchased 430 acres on the Missouri River in northeastern Nebraska, and donated them as an addition to the Ponca State Park. The preservation of this land protects critical riparian habitat and a mile of the river. The protected bottomland land includes back water channels and one of the last remaining sand bottom stretches.

Ponca State Park 2

With funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Nebraska Environmental Trust and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, we purchased 1,168 acres as an addition to Ponca State Park. This land is one of the last unchannelized sections of the Missouri River. State and federal agencies will undertake large-scale ecosystem restoration that will benefit threatened species, including the pallid sturgeon, piping plover, and bald eagle. This addition to the park created the momentum for the construction of the Missouri National Recreation River Resource and Education Center at Ponca State Park. The center features interpretive displays designed by the National Park Service, telling the story of this stretch of the Missouri River as Lewis and Clark saw it in 1805.

Sulphur Springs

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, assisted by The Fund, purchased 435 acres at Sulphur Springs east of Great Falls, Montana. The foundation’s donation assures the protection of the springs as well as 1.5 miles of Missouri River shoreline, connecting the springs to the Lewis & Clark Heritage Greenway. Water from the sulphur springs saved the life of Sacagawea, the young Shoshone guide for Lewis and Clark, when she became ill with a high fever in June 1805.

Ward Ranch

The 2,000-acre Ward Ranch provides habitat for elk and other big game. After restoration of riparian areas along two miles of the Missouri River, where Lewis and Clark traveled east of Helena, the ranch will also have more waterfowl nesting areas.