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The Oregon Trail Advisory Council was formed in 1984 by executive order of Governor Victor Atiyeh. The Advisory Council was responsible for evaluating the condition of the Oregon Trail and reporting on its condition to the Governor. The Advisory Council's 1988 publication, Our Oregon Trail: A Report to the Governor, provided a detailed analysis of Oregon Trail remnants in the state; political and private concerns surrounding the Oregon Trail; and the Trail's state of preservation and development. The Oregon Trail Advisory Council made a series of recommendation for the Oregon Trail that served as a mandate for the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council.

In December 1990, Governor Barbara Roberts responded to the Oregon Trail Advisory Council's report by supporting the founding of the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council as an independent nonprofit corporation. Governor Roberts called for the OTCC to plan activities for the 1993 sesquicentennial celebration and to coordinate the development of four interpretive centers planner for Baker City, on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, in The Dalles, and in Oregon City. The OTCC's mission was to develop the Oregon Trail as a major historical attraction and tourism opportunity that would result in positive economic and cultural impacts for the state. The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center on Flagstaff Hill near Baker City opened to record attendance in May, 1992.

The OTCC anticipated that it would dissolve at the end of the sesquicentennial commemoration. The year-long series of events and activities heightened awareness of and interest in Oregon's heritage resources. The development of capital projects complemented by marketing and educational outreach activities provided economic and cultural benefits to the communities along the route of the Oregon Trail. The success of the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council's programs and the continued support of the State of Oregon encouraged the OTCC's board of directors to consider recognition of Oregon's other historic trails. The OTCC postponed its dissolution until at least 1995.

The 1993 Oregon Legislature provided additional funding support for the completion of three Oregon Trail interpretive centers at Oregon City, The Dalles, and the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The Legislature allocated $2,000,000 in Oregon Lottery funding to be administered through the OTCC's matching grant program. Based on a formula of need and the amount of federal funding coming to each project, $500,000 was distributed to the End of the Oregon Trail Center in Oregon City; $500,000 was distributed to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles; and $1,000,000 was distributed to the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

During the 1993 Legislative session, the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council received a new and broader mandate: to work toward the interpretive development of Oregon's other national historic trails (the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Applegate Trail, and the Nez Perce Trail), in addition to the Oregon Trail. This mandate came with the passage of Senate Bill 98 authorizing the creation and sale of an Oregon Trail commemorative license plate through the end of December, 1995. For every Oregon Trail license plate sold, a $2.50 surcharge was "transferred to the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council for the purpose of developing interpretive facilities along national historic trails in Oregon." The OTCC responded to this mandate by initiating a matching grant program available to qualified organizations developing projects such as interpretive waysides, staffed interpretive centers, and interpretive trails. License plate sales through December, 1995, provided $1,000,000 for interpretive facility projects. These funds were distributed through the OTCC's matching grant program, with $250,000 going to each of the four national historic trails. In 1995, the Oregon Legislature voted to extend the Oregon Trail commemorative license plate program through December, 1999, providing a four-year extension for the Council's work. The Assembly also passed House Joint Memorial 6, proclaiming 1995 as the Year of the Meek Cutoff Trail to honor the sesquicentennial of its first crossing.

The 1995 bill which had the greatest impact on the OTCC was House Bill 2966, the Oregon Historic Trail Bill, which recognized sixteen historic trails in Oregon and provided an opportunity for the OTCC and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to work together on the development of a statewide historic trails program.

Relating to historic trails.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. Oregon recognizes the value and significance of its historic trails, including:

(1) The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail;
(2) The Oregon National Historic Trail;
(3) The Applegate National Historic Trail;
(4) The Nez Perce National Historic Trail;
(5) Alternate routes of the Oregon Trail including:
(a) The Whitman Mission Route;
(b) The Upper Columbia River Route;
(c) The Meek Cutoff;
(d) The Free Emigrant Road; and
(e) The Cutoff to the Barlow Road; and
(6) Major historic trails of Oregon including:
(a) The Klamath Trail;
(b) The Jedediah Smith Route;
(c) The Nathaniel Wyeth Route;
(d) The Benjamin Bonneville Route;
(e) The Ewing Young Route;
(f) The John Fremont Route; and
(g) The Santiam Wagon Road.

SECTION 2. In preparation for the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition, the State Parks and Recreation Department may:

(1) Work with property owners to mark the historic trails of Oregon; a"nd
(2) Cooperate with the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council to develop a statewide program to research, recognize, and promote Oregon's historic trails as heritage tourism resources that will have a positive economic and cultural impact on the state.

With the four-year extension of the Oregon Trail license plate program and the passage of the Oregon Historic Trails Bill, the OTCC elected to continue operating beyond 1995 and to remain an independent organization maintaining direct oversight of its funds. The Council's mission broadened to include the sixteen trails named in the Oregon Historic Trails Bill and the Council also adopted a d.b.a. name -- the Oregon Trails Coordinating Council -- to reflect its interest in historic trails statewide.

The OTCC entered into a cooperative agreement with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to facilitate development of the statewide historic trails program described in the Oregon Historic Trails Bill. The agreement enabled the Council to work closely with State Parks by transferring its operations to the Parks headquarters office in Salem. In exchange for office space, the OTCC agreed to develop the statewide historic trails program. After moving its operations to Salem in March, 1996, the OTCC began a four-year work plan to create the Oregon Historic Trails Program. The work plan consisted of five phases: 1) conduct research and resource evaluations; 2) identify potential partnerships and development alliances; 3) develop individual trail plans; 4) develop sources of program funding; and 5) oversee program implementation.

Late in the 1997 Oregon Legislative session, a bill was passed which included a provision that terminated the manufacture of specialty license plates and which specifically repealed the 1993 and 1995 acts that created the Oregon Trail commemorative license plate program. The Council's source of historic trail funding was cut short. Fortunately, remaining inventories of Oregon Trial license plates could still be sold to provide final revenues to the Council's matching grant program. Perhaps the greatest impact on the OTCC was that the timetable for considering the organization's future (expected to coincide with the end of the license plate program in December, 1999), was now moved up to 1997. With its loss of authority and program funding support from the State of Oregon, the Council decided to conserve its remaining assets and place the remaining funds in an endowed fund.

The work plan of the Oregon Historic Trails Program was half completed. Research and resource assessments were developed so that individual plans could be proposed. The outline of a program "to research, recognize, and promote Oregon's historic trails as heritage tourism resources," as called for in the Oregon Historic Trails Bill, had been prepared. The Council moved ahead with the creation of this document, the Oregon Historic Trails Report, to provide a planning document to assist future efforts to develop historic trail resources in Oregon. With this report in place, the Council moves toward dissolution.

The Council's legacy is a challenge to Oregonians to carry on the work outlined in the Oregon Historic Trails Report and an endowment, the Oregon Historic Trails Fund, under the Oregon Community Foundation to help fund their efforts.