U.S. Department of the Interior

MEDIA ADVISORY

SECRETARY NORTON WILL REPRESENT PRESIDENT BUSH
AT LEWIS & CLARK BICENTENNIAL COMMENCEMENT

Charlottesville, Va. and Washington, DC - Representing President George W. Bush, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton will address the Commencement of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, on January 18, 2003.

WHO:           Honorable Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior
                      Honorable Mark R. Warner, Governor of Virginia
                      Daniel P. Jordan, President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation
                      Other invited dignitaries include other Cabinet members, Members of Congress, tribal leaders,
                      governors, agency directors, noted historians and cultural leaders

WHAT:         Launching the nation's three-year commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's journey
                      across America in 1803-1806 and giving a send-off to the Corps of Discovery II, a traveling
                      interagency exhibition

WHEN:         Pre-program 10:30 a.m.; Official Commencement & Speeches, 12 - 1 p.m., Saturday, January
                      8, 2003
                      1 p.m. Secretarial media availability; meet at portico after program

WHERE:         West Lawn, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia;
                         President Thomas Jefferson's Home at Monticello is located outside Charlottesville, Va.,
                         approximately two miles southeast of Interstate 64 Exit 121. (Approx. 125 mi. from
                         Washington, D.C., via Interstate 66 and U.S. 29); Bad-Weather site: University Hall, Univ. of
                         Virginia, Charlottesville

WHY:               The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, expected to be the largest commemoration since the
                         nation's Bicentennial in 1976, marks an expedition that was a turning point in the history of our
                         nation. The Bicentennial aims to view the Expedition's effects from many cultural perspectives
                         and to include not only impacts on the western expansion of the United States but also on
                         Indian tribes, science, commerce and many other aspects of American life. Corps of
                         Discovery II premieres at Monticello. Sponsored by more than twenty federal departments and
                         agencies, it will travel across the nation.

PRESS CREDENTIALS REQUIRED: Send name, organization, surface address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address to (fax) 434-977-6140 or e-mail to [email protected] (with "Lewis and Clark Media" in header field). Credentials requests must be sent by January 15.

-DOI-