Water Trails Inventory and Mapping on the Lewis and Clark Trail

Upper Missouri River Breaks, MT

NPS

About this article: This article was originally published in the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail 2025 Annual Report.

New Resource and Recreation Dataset

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Water Trails (in light blue)

NPS

During the 2024-2025 academic year, Geographer Ryan Cooper and Tribal Liaison Brye Lefler led a geospatial inventory project with Casey Harper, a student intern from Oregon State University, to map water trails along and adjoining the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The inventory and mapping project first consisted of discovering the location and extent, determining responsible trail stewardship organizations, and identifying any additional special designations of each of the water trails.

The information gathered during this project was used to develop an up-to-date water trails geospatial dataset that can be used on maps and in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications. The data is now shared with the visiting public on the NP Map that appears throughout the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail website, as well as on the Trail Interactive Atlas, the Data Store on the NPS Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) Portal, and the NPS ArcGIS Online site. Staff have also created water trail descriptions, gathered photos, and collected travel information and are currently developing digital assets that will be shared with the public on the website and the NPS App.

At a Glance

What is a water trail?

A publicly accessible, collaboratively managed route along a waterway that connects people to outdoor recreation while promoting the conservation, restoration, and stewardship of natural resources.

18 Water trails along or intersecting with the Lewis and Clark Trail mapped in 2025.
2,600+ Miles of water trails along the trail.

Explore water trails along the Lewis and Clark Trail.