Scientists to complete Lewis and Clark survey
Thursday, August 10, 2006 6:52 AM PDT
By Sophie Swecker
Printable version
E-mail this articleA team of scientists that has spent two years documenting changes in the landscape along the route Lewis and Clark took the Pacific Ocean will complete their westward journey Sunday, and the public has a chance to join them.
Runners and walkers are invited to Long Beach to retrace the last mile of the "Flight of Discovery" project.
The Flight of Discovery is a group of geologists, agronomists, botanists and anthropologists who started to retrace the journey of Lewis and Clark in 2004. They're comparing the state of natural resources along that route with reports complied by the Corps of Discovery in 1804-06.
"Documenting these changes will constitute an environmental barometer that can aid future decision makers in addressing both cultural and natural resources/conservation protection strategies and policies," according to the Flight of Discovery's Website.
The walk, largely ceremonial, harkens back to the walk the Capt. William Clark took to the Long Beach Peninsula on Nov. 19, 1805.
Sunday's walk begins at the whale bones in Long Beach, near Sid Snyder Avenue. A Chinook Indian blessing will be given at 9 a.m. and the walk will continue north to the bronze tree, then loop back to the whale bones.
The whale bones are a permanent part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Discovery Trail in Long Beach, commemorating a beached whale that members of the expedition found on the Long Beach Peninsula in the winter of 1805. The bronze tree is a reminder that Clark carved his name in a tree on that visit 201 years ago .
The free event is being held by the Flight of Discovery and the City of Long Beach to "promote healthy living" and to commemorate the start of the Flight of Discovery's 2006 journey.
The FOD this summer will beginning its 2006 journey in Astoria and will travel eastward, stopping along the way to visit classrooms and hand out a "Trunk of Discovery" containing educational materials to students.
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