The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana, relies on complex coordination between USDA Forest Service and a group of five special volunteer partners.  These groups have helped to develop, finance, and present public programming since the Interpretive Center opened in May 1998.

Without the services of these volunteers, the Center would simply be a building with static exhibits.  Instead, it is a place where more than 82,000 people of all ages learn from other people about the important legacies for cultural and natural resource protection and management on public lands along 8,000 miles of National HIstoric Trail. 

The combined efforts of the Forest Service and its volunteer partners produced a set of products that have become the envy of the nation and a model for many interpretive centers built along the Trail since 1998.  The success of this partnership has been recognized by Chief's Awards for the Center and its partners in 2000, 2001 and 2005.

The combined efforts of all these volunteer partners encourage visitors to walk and hike through the lands around the Interpretive Center and to bike through adjacent public lands managed by other state, federal and local governments.  These outdoor recreation opportunities connect the public with the natural resources management which allows them to experience the landscape seen by the Lewis & Clark expedition's men 200 years ago in much the same condition they encountered.