Government will buy $1 million of land in Siskiyou monument: Bill also includes funding for visitor center at Crater Lake
Mail Tribune
Medford, Oregon
October 30, 2009
BY PAUL FATTIG
A $32.2 billion (this number has been corrected) Interior Department appropriations bill en route to President Obama’s desk includes $1 million to purchase islands of land from willing sellers in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
Another $350,000 is earmarked for a visitor center at Crater Lake National Monument.
The funds are part of nearly $7 million for Oregon projects announced today by Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. They are for the 2010 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
“This bill will put people to work keeping our forests healthy and preserve and protect some of Oregon’s most treasured places, from Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument to Hells Canyon,” Merkley said in a prepared statement.
“It will also create jobs through the replacement of deteriorated infrastructure, updating clean drinking water systems and protecting local communities from the threat of wildfires and floods,” he added.
The $1 million for the 52,940-acre monument will be used to complete the transfer of land from the Pacific Forest Trust to the federal government, said Jim Whittington, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District.
Based in San Francisco, the nonprofit trust dedicated to preserving forestland has purchased nearly 5,000 acres, much of it former timber company land, that it is transferring to the agency at cost. Although some 60 percent of the land within the monument’s boundaries is federally owned, there are islands of private parcels within its perimeter.
The monument is the mountainous region immediately east of Ashland where the Cascade, Klamath and Siskiyou ranges converge.
The funding for the Crater Lake visitor center will allow the National Park Service to renovate the currently boarded-up 1928 “campers store” building on the crater’s rim to turn it into a visitor center covering some 5,000 square feet.
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- Three missing people found: hunters, mushroom hunter located Saturday – October 18, 2009
- Crater Lake Wilderness: Oregon’s ‘best idea’ needs protection – October 17, 2009
- Wet weather ends fire season around region – October 13, 2009
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- Prescribed burn postponed at Crater Lake: Park Service to wait until forecasts are more favorable – October 9, 2009
- Prescribed burns set for next few months: Agencies will burn nearly 15,000 acres, mostly in Jackson, Josephine counties – October 9, 2009
- Search exercise to cover area where boy was lost – September 11, 2009
- National Park Service Announces Appointment of Dr. Gary Machlis as Science Advisor to the Director – August 12, 2009
- Extra pair pays off in Crater Lake Rim Runs – August 9, 2009
- Wilderness proposed at Crater Lake – August 07, 2009
- Oregon Wild warns legal action on Crater Lake helicopters – August 6, 2009
- Cantwell: Jarvis Well-Qualified for the ‘Greatest Job in the World’ – July 28, 2008
- Senator Wyden issues statement condemning Crater Lake National park helicopter tours – July 27, 2009
- Desert Ridge Wildland Fire continues burning at Crater Lake National Park – July 21, 2009
- Whitney Wildland Fire nears containment at Crater Lake National Park – July 21, 2009
- Cameron (Cam) Sholly has been selected as the new superintendent of Natchez Trace Parkway – July 15, 2009
- Rep. Dicks supports Jon Jarvis for nomination of National Park Service Director – July 10, 2009
- USGS volcanologist Charles Bacon gives Mount Mazama geologic history talk – June 23, 2009
- USGS volcanologist Charles Bacon receives award at Crater Lake National Park – July 8, 2009
- Review: Geologic Map of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake Caldera, Oregon by Charles R. Bacon – July 7, 2009
- Free entrance weekends at Crater Lake National Park – June 20, 2009
- Oregon Congressman Proposes “Aerial Gondola” to Wizard Island – Summer/Fall 2009
- Lichen Survey Hits the Jackpot One-Day “BioBlitz” Uncovers 61 Species Not Previously Recorded at Crater Lake – Summer/Fall 2009
- A Conversation with the Park’s Chief of Terrestrial Ecology – Summer/Fall 2009
- Black Bear Census Set to Begin: Park to Estimate Population Using Hair Samples and DNA – Summer/Fall 2009
- A promise fulfilled on roadless forests – May 28, 2009
- Crater Lake Lodge opens for 2009 season – May 21, 2009
- Marcella Isabella Stine (1918 – 2009) – May 22, 2009
- Lawrence Campbell Merriam Jr. (1923 – 2008) – May 22, 2009
- Wayne R. Howe: 1920 – 2008 – May 21, 2009
- Passing of John Bowdler (1925 – 2009) – May 4, 2009
- Parks receive stimulus funds: Crater Lake, Lava Beds to use funding for improvements – April 24, 2009
- Mercy Flights makes life-saving donation to Crater Lake park – February 24, 2009
- Rescue at Crater Lake: specialized rescue team saves man from icy slope – February 2, 2009
- Former National Park Service director George B. Hartzog Jr. dies – January 31, 2009
- Ski patrol member watches over park: Niel Barrett is a charter member of the ski patrol at Crater Lake National Park – January 30, 2009
- Paradise in Blue: Snowshoe trek at Crater Lake informative, easy, free – January 22, 2009