Lewis and Clark Trail in 2021: An App, a Tactile Map and a Junior Ranger Award

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail's 2021 annual report collects short items on work that made the trail's story easier to reach: a mobile app, a touchable map, virtual programs and an award. This is a summary of that report, as it stood in 2021.

The NPS App showing a trail partner site. Image from the National Park Service's page.

The NPS App

For the launch of the National Park Service's new NPS App, a detailee working as a visual information specialist for the trail added partner sites as place assets. The work included editing, researching and writing content for the trail's NPS webpage, tracking down hard-to-find images and uploading information for over 200 sites to the park's content management system. The app is free in the App Store and on Google Play, and the work included a walking tour of the Omaha visitor center's interpretive garden.

A tactile map

The Lewis and Clark Expedition covered 4,900 miles of the continent, and a map of the route is essential to its story. In 2021 custom tactile maps of the trail were developed and distributed across the country. Visitors can feel the topographical relief of the United States and trace the trail, which is recessed or sunken. Coastlines are recessed too, one step down. A braille caption lists the states the trail passes through and its major rivers.

The tactile map of the Lewis and Clark Trail, with a braille panel. Image from the National Park Service's page.

Reaching more visitors

• American Council of the Blind. The City of Omaha was to host the council's annual conference in July 2022. Visitor center and exhibits staff met with the group's delegates to show resources and plan programming, rangers were to help eligible attendees get a free lifetime America the Beautiful Access Pass, and the delegates reviewed the new tactile map.
• A virtual Mother's Day program. On May 9, 2021 the trail marked the families the Corps of Discovery left behind when it departed in the spring of 1804. A first-person interpreter portrayed the mother of York, the only enslaved member of the expedition. The program was fully virtual and free, which let the trail offer public programming safely during the pandemic.
• A new tribal partnerships specialist. The trail added a position focused on working with Indigenous communities.

An award

In December 2021 the trail's Junior Ranger program won a first-place media award from the National Association for Interpretation, in the book category, for the Junior Ranger Activity Journal. The association's entries are judged by a panel of professionals in interpretation, design and media, and the journal earned top marks for thoughtful, inclusive messaging and innovative online components.

Sources

• National Park Service, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Lewis and Clark Trail Updates 2021, from the trail's 2021 annual report, by NPS staff; rewritten in hubnx's own words.