History
The Northwest Discovery Water Trail was established as a 367-mile recreational corridor on the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers — running from Canoe Camp on the Clearwater in Idaho down to Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River Gorge.
Designation events (2005)
Bonneville Ribbon Cutting — August 26, 2005
Bonneville Dam links the Northwest Discovery and Lower Columbia River Water Trails, together offering over 500 miles of river travel. During the Taste of Lewis and Clark festival held at the dam, visitors and dignitaries — including Washington Congressman Brian Baird and Washington State Parks Director Rex Derr — boarded the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the lock. As the crowded sternwheeler approached the lock, two volunteers hoisted a ribbon strung from lockwall to lockwall over the jack-staff flag pole and onto the deck of the moving boat, where water-trail partners and guests cut the ribbon and celebrated the opening and connection of the two water trails.
Mosier Fall Festival — September 3, 2005
At Mosier's Labor Day weekend community picnic, the Washington Water Trails Association installed the first Northwest Discovery Water Trail marker on the Columbia River at the newly-established Rock Creek launch site. Mosier is a small Oregon town but a big destination for windsurfers and a prime stop on the Northwest Discovery Water Trail, where travelers can restock supplies or enjoy the town's shops and restaurants.
Clearwater Cleanup — September 24, 2005
The free-flowing waters of the Clearwater River rush travelers through a deep canyon. For years, agencies and community members worked to rid the Clearwater of junked cars and abandoned appliances that marred the beauty of the river. The Nez Perce Tribe and eight other partnering businesses and agencies teamed up to remove the last remnants of riverside junk from the Nez Perce Reservation near Lapwai, Idaho. Volunteers attached large pieces of contorted, rusted cars to a boom crane, which then lifted automobile parts from the riverbank into a container bound for the recycling center.
Funding and management
The Water Trail was funded by the National Park Service through the Lewis and Clark Challenge Cost Share Program and is managed today by the Washington Water Trails Association. A full list of original partner organizations is on the Partners page.
Originally published on ndwt.org; reused with permission from the Washington Water Trails Association — see project NOTICE.