News Release
Date: September 14, 2023
Contact: NewsMedia@nps.gov
WASHINGTON – The National Park Service (NPS) today transmitted the Pike National Historic Trail Feasibility Study to Congress. NPS conducted the study pursuant to Public Law 116-9 (the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act), which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to evaluate the significance, feasibility, suitability, and desirability of designating routes associated with Lieutenant Zebulon Pike’s 1806-1807 expedition as a national historic trail (NHT).
The route evaluated in the study begins in Fort Bellefontaine, Missouri and ends in Natchitoches, Louisiana. It spans approximately 2,700 miles, intersecting the States of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. The section of trail that traverses Mexico is not eligible for designation as it falls outside of the United States.
Feasibility Studies are congressionally directed and evaluate a site according to three established criteria: 1) be a trail or route established by historic use and must be historically significant because of that use; 2) be of national significance with any of several broad facets of American history, which means that a potential NHT’s historic use must have had a far-reaching effect on broad patterns of American culture; and 3) have significant potential for public recreational use or historical interest based on historical interpretation and appreciation.
The study found that the proposed Pike National Historic Trail study route is sufficiently known to permit evaluation of the potential for public recreation and historical interest. However, the NPS has concluded that even though the events that transpired along the proposed Pike National Historic Trail provide historical context for several existing National Historic Trails —including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Santa Fe National Historic Trail, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, and Old Spanish National Historic Trail —the historic use of the proposed Pike National Historic Trail itself does not rise to the level of national significance to satisfy the criteria for a National Historic Trail. Finally, the relative lack of surviving historic resources directly related to Pike’s travels, and of compelling interpretive stories, limit the trail’s feasibility, suitability, and desirability. Therefore, the NPS has concluded that the proposed Pike National Historic Trail does not have the recreational potential or historic interest to satisfy the NTSA’s criterion.
Historical significance related to Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike and the Pike Expedition is currently or can be interpreted at multiple NPS sites and national historic trails, including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Santa Fe National Historic Trail, Old Spanish National Historic Trail, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, and El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, as well as other historic sites managed by others outside of the national park system. The National Park Service welcomes and encourages opportunities to enhance interpretation and education related to the Pike Expedition at these other sites.
Additions to the National Trails System are designated by acts of Congress. A trail feasibility study serves as one reference for consideration in the potential designation.
More information about the Pike National Historic Trail Feasibility Study is available at ParkPlanning - Pike National Historic Trail Feasibility Study (nps.gov).
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Last updated: September 14, 2023