Once a month, from September through May, visitors and locals are invited to attend "In Their Footsteps," a free series of lectures and presentations at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Fort Clatsop Visitor Center in Astoria, Oregon.

Judith Lampi will present Ethnobotany Near the Mouth of the Columbia River on May 20, 2018. This free speaker series event starts at 1pm in the Netul River Room at Fort Clatsop's Visitors Center.

Humans have always depended on plants for food, medicine and textiles. Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants. This forum will take participants on an Ethnobotanical tour of the Lewis and Clark Expedition journals and share how the indigenous people of the Lower Columbia River used the plants that Captain Meriwether Lewis described during the winter of 1805-06.

Judith Lampi attributes her passion for native plants and how the Chinook and Clatsop people used them, to her grandfather (retired logger), who would walk with her (as a child) in the forest and along the shores of the river and tell her the plant names and stories of the Native Americans who lived there. For decades she has been collecting and sharing information about American Indian uses of this area's native plants and studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition journals. Lampi taught Ethnobotany as a science elective at the Health Sciences Biotechnology Magnet School in Portland and later became a national park ranger at Fort Clatsop. She has guided countless Ethnobotany walks and lectured around the country.

In Their Footsteps is sponsored by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association and all are welcome to join the conversation and be inspired by history, people and culture. For more information, call the park at (503) 861-2471, on-line at www.nps.gov/lewi or check out Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on Facebook.