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From: [log in to unmask]>erin jordahl IA

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Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 4:48 PM

Subject: fwd: Author tries to give sense of Lewis and Clark

 

Author tries to give sense of Lewis and Clark
Jarett C. Bies
Argus Leader

Natural history part of book's focus

While traveling the course of the trail paved by American explorers
Meriweather Lewis and William Clark, author and outdoors enthusiast
Elizabeth Grossman tried to focus on the parts of the trail that still
resemble the sites seen by those two men and their traveling companions.

"To find things like this, you have to get off the trail a bit," Grossman
says, "But with the book, I wanted to highlight those undeveloped areas,
the ones that give a true sense of Lewis and Clark's experience."

Grossman visits Sioux Falls tomorrow for a multi-media presentation about
her book,

"The parts of the book I liked most were portions where she incorporates
the actual verbiage of Lewis and Clark," says Tracie Weber, conservation
organizer in Sioux Falls for The Sierra Club. "There's more of a thought
process in this book, more than just an A to Z trail guide book."

Conservation efforts are an important part of the work, Grossman says. "If
we achieve the goal to get people out of their cars, they will want to
learn more, hopefully," she says. "If they develop curiosity, then in time,
they will develop concern."

With a focus on natural history, Grossman catalogues wildlife still present
in many of the lands Lewis and Clark explored.

"There are places along the trail, refuge areas where there are clouds of
snow geese and thousands of pelicans," she says.

While vacationing explorers can use the book within the state, it also can
help those planning more distant travels.

"Most of the area east of the North Dakota border is now farmland,"
Grossman says. "Farther afield, the trail falls across some areas which are
amazing in their beauty and remain nearly as they were."

Reach Jarett C. Bies at 977-3925 or [log in to unmask]