[meteorite-list] Meteorite Interpretive Trail Set in Oregon (Willamette Meteorite)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:31:16 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200702152131.NAA13557_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.westlinntidings.com/news/story.php?story_id=117148655011243900

Meteorite interpretive trail set for Fields Bridge Park
By Cliff Newell
The West Linn Tidings
February 15, 2007

After blazing from outer space to land in West Linn thousands of years
ago, the Willamette Meteorite still generates excitement today.

Fields Bridge Park will soon house an interpretive trail, located almost
exactly where the meteorite was found originally. The Ice Age Trail
project costs $125,000, and a majority of that is already raised.

Donors are now asked to fill in the gap of $6,000.

As founder of the Lower Columbia Floods Chapter, the Ice Age Floods
Institute and president of the West Linn Chamber of Commerce, Mark Buser
is heading up the effort to build a trail at Fields Bridge Park that
will neatly combine two things he likes: boosting the city's economy and
improving people's appreciation of history.

"For most people, their knowledge of Oregon history only goes back to
the 1840s," Buser said. "Or maybe Lewis and Clark."

Buser hopes to push those boundaries back a bit farther. About 18,000
years - a time when the worry wasn't about global warming but about
global freezing due to the Ice Age - a time when there was water
everywhere thanks to the Missoula Floods.

>From its fiery entrance onto earth, the meteorite settled into a version
of meteor hibernation.

"The Willamette Meteorite is uniquely West Linn," Buser said. "It was
probably found first by the Clackamas Indians, and in 1902 it was found
here by Ellis Hughs."

Hughs thought his discovery was a great way to make a fast buck. This
was followed by several lawsuits to settle who actually owned the
beloved object, before finally landing in its dignified current setting
at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Buser has a model of the Willamette Meteorite proudly on display at his
office in Lake Oswego.

"The purpose of the Ice Age Floods Institute is to educate people about
the cataclysmic Missoula Ice Age Flood," Buser said, "both as a natural
and heritage phenomenon."

Tracing a long past

Buser could have waited for current federal legislation that will create
an Ice Age Flood trail in the Northwest. He said he expects the ball to
start rolling in less than two years.

However, his chapter decided to "take things in (their) own hands and
create a trail on the Tualatin River, where the iceberg would have
stranded the meteor."

The trail at Fields Bridge will consist of three interpretative areas,
including natural walls and panels, and built off of a path. Panels, art
and maps will depict this ancient story.

The team for this project includes Buser as project manager; West Linn's
Glendon Smith of Mainline Design, who has designed previous interpretive
areas; and creative director Steve H. Ominski.

They are being greatly aided by the city of West Linn, which suggested
adding a life-size replica of the Willamette Meteorite - suitable for
climbing on by children.

"Now it's something even better than the project I was planning," Buser
said.

A cultural, financial draw

The trail will make West Linn residents and visitors richer in a
cultural and historical sense. It will also make them richer in a
financial sense. Buser expects the trail to be a great boon to tourism
in West Linn.

"West Linn is ideally situated between Lake Oswego and Oregon City to
benefit from spillover visitors," Buser said. "It's important for West
Linn to identify its 'brand' to show people why they should visit West Linn.

'This is an opportunity to draw people in with a unique story. People
who are retired, highly educated, have disposable income, and desire to
experience a community."

Contributions to the project have come from the Clackamas County Tourism
and Development Council, the Ice Age Flood Institute and the Cultural
Coalition of Clackamas County (from the Oregon Cultural Trust). The city
of West Linn will be paying $40,000, plus in-kind landscaping work.

"In five years, I would like to see all of the children in the West
Linn-Wilsonville School District climbing on that rock," he said. "I
also anticipate people learning a piece of history that is very unique.

"I see a tour operated with a charter bus that will pull into a parking
lot, and a high school senior will take them on the interpretive trail.
Then they'll go back to dine and shop in Willamette."

According to Buser, work on The Ice Age Floods Trail will begin soon,
and could be the biggest thing to hit West Linn since, well, the
Willamette Meteorite.
Received on Thu 15 Feb 2007 04:31:16 PM PST