He collects articles, videos, maps and other material about the expedition, and dresses in costume as Capt. Clark to deliver speeches about the Corps of Discovery. And he's the one who, at a Sierra Club meeting in Boise in 1996, suggested that the journey's bicentennial would be a great time to promote wildland and wildlife protection. Now Osborn has taken the best of the stories and photos he's gathered over the years and compiled them into a fascinating and beautifully illustrated historical perspective called "Protecting the Lands Explored by Lewis and Clark: 1805 - 1905 - 2005." It's a must-see for history buffs, students, decision-makers and conservationists alike. "The report comprises the best Lewis and Clark material I've collected over the past 20 years, and with 30-plus filing cabinets of environmental history material, I've collected a lot," says Osborn, conservation chair of the Sierra Club's Northern Rockies Chapter, which covers eastern Washington and Idaho. He explains that the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration will be a major event for America, perhaps second only to the July 4, 1976 celebration marking the Declaration of Independence and birth of the United States. As Dr. Osborn said at the White House in the persona of Capt. Clark, "We were the Corps of Discovery. Capt. Lewis and I challenge you as a nation to be a Corps of Recovery." Lewis and Clark expedition fires America's imagination today just as it did 200 years ago. Hit the Lewis and Clark Trail with us, or read about wildlife in Lewis and Clark's Journals. For more information about the Sierra Club's Lewis and Clark campaign or to find out how you can help, contact lewisandclark@sierraclub.org. Photo: An actor poses as Capt. Clark at the DeVoto Grove of Ancient Cedars, Clearwater National Forest, Sept. 2000. Photo by Chase Davis. |
John Osborn is a Washington physician and Sierra Club leader who loves all things Lewis and Clark.