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1999
April 1 1999 Oregon Caves get own spot on park roster
The Oregon Caves National Monument has emerged from under the administrative umbrella of Crater Lake National Park, a move that reflects the monument’s burgeoning role in understanding North American natural history.
The Oregon Caves, where recent fossil finds have shed light on scientific theories about Ice Age mysteries, is no longer part of the administrative authority of the only national park in Oregon.
“The Oregon Caves has fledged,” said Chuck Lundy, superintendent of Crater Lake National Park. “It has a large enough core staff and a very capable superintendent.”
Although it has been functioning independently in terms of its own budget and other responsibilities in recent years, the monument has remained under the administration of the national park. That status changed April 1.
Monument superintendent Craig Ackerman, an Oregon Caves employee since 1990, now reports directly to the National Park Service’s regional office in Seattle.
“We consulted the regional director and felt it was time to make the change,” Lundy said, citing work being done by Ackerman and his staff.
Although the action may only be a stroke of the pen, it is an indicator of the monument’s growing status.
May 12 1999 Chuck Lundy – CRLA’s 25th Superintendent – New Crater boss has snow-heavy past Mail Tribune Medford, Oregon By PAUL FATTIG
Chuck Lundy isn’t getting cabin fever, but he admits he is mighty glad to see the snow bank retreating from his second-story office window.
“Yeah, it’s really nice to see it declining,” he said, then added, “But it has kind of stalled out in terms of melting.”
Don’t get him wrong. The Crater Lake National Park superintendent loves snow. It’s just that more than 664 inches of snow has fallen on the park this winter, the most snow since 1983. Enough already.
There is now a 12-foot blanket of snow lying snugly up against the park headquarters, which is at 6,500 feet above sea level.
Snow covers the first-floor windows in the headquarters building, giving it a bunker-like atmosphere. Grow lights provide life-giving light to two houseplants inside the headquarters lobby.
Up on the Crater Lake rim, elevation 7,000 feet, the snow is around 16 feet deep.
A native of Michigan, Lundy, 49, arrived at the park in mid-November. Snow already covered the ground.
“I thought I had seen a lot of snow,” he said, noting he had encountered up to 200 inches of snow on Michigan’s upper peninsula.
Snow was an old friend before Lundy, who began his career in 1977, arrived at Crater Lake. He saw plenty of snow as the superintendent at the Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. He was a member of the ski patrol at Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California.
And he encountered snow at career stops in the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, Grand Canyon National Park and the Colorado National Monument.
“Not only is the snow deeper here, but we work and live in the snow environment up here,” he said.
But Lundy is taking the deep snow at Crater Lake in stride as he and his staff prepare the park for the half-million visitors who come each year, largely during the summer.
The park staff with its fleet of snow removal equipment is already chewing away at the Rim Road. The north entrance to the park is expected to open by the average target date of June 10. The historic Crater Lake Lodge, completed in 1915 and rehabilitated in 1995, will open May 20. The nearby concession building is already open.
The goal is to get the entire park open to visitors as early as possible, Lundy said, adding that an additional bulldozer has been leased to add muscle to the snow removal project.
“We’re not catching a break in the weather this year,” Lundy said. “But the crew is working very diligently to get the north entrance open.”
If cold weather persists, more equipment will be called in, he said.
Although the winter of 1932-33 brought a record 879 inches, this past winter’s snowfall is the most since 1983. The average snowfall is 530 inches.
But the water content in the snow this year is at a 45-year high. The soggy snow has damaged some buildings because of its sheer weight.
“One of my hopes is to develop a visitor center on the rim that will provide quality viewing year-round,” he said. “That would be great for the winter visitors.”
Meanwhile, Lundy, who lives in Klamath Falls with his wife, Maureen, is looking back on the first winter he worked at the park with a sense of accomplishment.
“For a good part of the winter, the staff kept downplaying the snow, saying, `Oh, this isn’t much,”‘ Lundy said. “Well, in the last couple of months, they’ve come clean.
May 13 1999 Crater Lake ex-workers settle score. Park Service lets duo return to their jobs. Two people who spent five years as seasonal rangers at CLNP have settle their whistle blower complaints with the NPS and returned to work.
Stephen Robinson and his wife Amelia Bruno complained to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel that the Park Service had violated the Whistleblower Protection Act when park officials failed to rehire Robinson for seasonal work at Crater Lake in 1997 and 1998.
Bruno had claimed she had been denied employment as a direct result of her husband’s disclosures. Under terms of the settlement the couple received full corrective action, including back pay. Former Park Superintendent, Al Hendricks, who was transferred to Capital Reef NP, will be suspended for 30 days without pay.
During the summer of 1996, Robinson made protected disclosures when he notified park officials and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden about safety issues associated with Crater Lake’s tour boat operation.
Robinson’s concerns about boat safety included claims of insufficient training and lack of certification for boat operators, lack of safety equipment, unreliability of boat engines, overcrowding, and improper boat operations in inclement weather.
“We’re glad to be back. We think this park is a magical place. I’m trying to create goodwill and get things behind us,” said Robinson.
“The Park Service’s decision should send a clear message to its employees that there’s a price to be paid for retaliating against whistleblowers.” The offending superintendent not only got a transfer out of the Park, but he will also serve a suspension without pay. (H/N)
2007 – Steve Robinson, a veteran of 25 seasons at the Everglades and many years at Crater Lake passes away. 1950 – 2007
Steve was a provocative interpreter whose passion sometimes made others uncomfortable. In fact, that was one of his mottos for interacting with the world: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. His was a passion and directness that was well respected by new and returning Everglades visitors alike. Unlike many interpretive staff, Steve loved working at the information desk and always drew a crowd with the obvious depth of his knowledge of the resource and the value of his tips for visiting the park. Returning visitors sought him out for updates on the state of affairs at the park, many times asking, “Where is the guy with the beard and the ponytail?” He was commanding. He always drew a crowd. It was easy to get swept up in his idealism, his unwavering vision of a beautiful, natural world.
The musical talents that he and his wife, Amelia Bruno, shared were also a source of inspiration at campfire programs, at interpretive training, and during the Everglades 50th anniversary celebration and innumerable park “coffeehouses.”
Crater Lake visitors were treated to Steve’s same eloquence about the natural and spiritual power of the park’s resources during his seasons as an interpreter and a fire lookout ranger. His dogged determination to improve the safety program for the boat tours of Crater Lake will continue to reap benefits for the park.
Steve’s real legacy will undoubtedly be the many young interpreters he tutored, mentored, inspired and befriended. The pages of his memorial site are scattered with comments like this: “I was an impressionable young seasonal ranger at Flamingo in the late ’80s, and the impression you left on me was one of a person who wasn’t afraid of fighting.” Or “Steve and Amelia . . . you’re the soul of Flamingo. You all have made such a positive difference.” And “Because of your love and your Marjorie-like stubborn determination, I refuse to ever give visitors the impression that the Everglades or the planet is beyond hope.”
Steve died as peacefully as he lived. At 10:25 in the morning on October 1, 2007, Steve looked at Amelia and son Darby and quietly stopped breathing. He had been a partner and soul mate; a patient, loving dad whose heart burst with pride when Darby was born; and an honest, compassionate, fast and true friend. His gifts as a rock-folk guitarist and music teacher brought out the best in everyone. He was an Everglades expert who felt that his mentor, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, had passed the torch to him when she heard him speak at the Anhinga Trail and approved of his message.
Steve’s strength came from times spent in nature. His 24-hour solo sails to Sandy Key were vital to his psyche. He found his life’s worth in being an NPS naturalist.
For the past two years he had remained in Oregon, avoiding hurricanes in Florida and helping his son get established in college. But he was going back this year — a year that needed his voice more than ever, a year when the Everglades is being removed as a World Heritage Site.
For many who remember Florida Bay sunsets, an image will always linger: the silhouette of Steve, standing up in his canoe as it slides across the water under sail, a ghost of the Calusa Indians that also plied these estuarine waters. It’s a fitting image to carry into the future for the countless visitors and NPSers who were helped, inspired and moved by this man and his genuine love for nature.
He wanted to change the world. He succeeded. Brian Carey, Superintendent of Chiricahau NM and Fort Bowie NHS. Amelia Bruno, Steve’s partner, is the fee program manager at Crater Lake.
June 22 1999 Two seasonal National Park Service employees become lost while skiing and snowboarding, prompting a search that ended at 3:34 a.m. with both found cold, tired, and dehydrated but uninjured. The two had left Rim Village with the intention of traveling to Park Headquarters but lost their way. They were found huddling beneath a tree.
“Now most of them are saying this is the biggest snow they’ve ever seen here.”
June 24 1999 Park’s north entrance opens to traffic. One of the latest openings on record. The Park received 669 inches of snow during the winter, making it the third-highest snowfall on record and one of the heaviest since 1983.
July 1999 President Clinton offers a wilderness plan for Crater Lake. All of CLNP’s undeveloped lands would be placed in wilderness status along with 5.2 million acres of parkland, including 165,000 acres for the Park. The proposal is part of Clinton’s “Landis Legacy Initiative. The Lake would be included, but boat trips would be allowed to continue as a historic use.
July – August 1999 Due to the rehabilitation of the Community House, stone comfort stations, and Sinnott and the Visitor Center, a prefab comfort station has been set up nearby and a trailer was being used as a visitor contact station. All the trappings and looks of a construction camp. Plans continue to be developed for a high tech exhibit for the back room of the Sinnott spearheaded by Ranger Kevin Bacher.
July 22 1999 Park’s rangers do more than fight crime. Rangers are responsible for police work, but spend much of their time educating visitors about the lake and the park’s rules.
Crater Lake cops teach, guide and sometimes rescue. From the Mail Tribune.
It’s a different kind of police job, working as a ranger at Crater Lake National Park.
The rangers not only handle crimes, but also protect resources in the park, where rocks aren’t to be taken home and pets and mountain bikes are forbidden on trails. One day rangers can be reminding visitors not to feed chipmunks, and the next they may deal with tourists who disobey rules and hike down the caldera, which has proven deadly.
They don’t handle many crime reports. Only 22 of last year’s 157 reported crimes were serious.
But the five permanent and six seasonal law enforcement officers may answer medical calls, fight a fire or search for a missing hiker. Some of the rangers are trained divers, called on in case of a drowning or when a dock needs work.
They work in a park where nearly 472,000 people visited last year. Roughly every other year, one of those tourists dies trying to hike down the loose volcanic rock of the caldera. Last year, a tourist trying to swim out to Wizard Island made it about 20 feet in the 40-degree water before going under. In 1995, a helicopter crashed in the lake, killing two sightseers whose bodies remain 1,500 feet below the surface.
While tragedies such as those occasionally happen, rangers most often help visitors who lock their keys in a car or have car trouble or fender-benders. Rangers also conduct searches for lost hikers, such as one earlier this week for a 60-year-old man lost on the Pacific Crest Trail. The man was found safe.
“A lot of what we do is education,” seven-year park ranger Pete Reinhardt said. As he heads for a drive around the park, it’s easy to see why.
He’s asked questions about what it’s like to hike Cleetwood Cove T rail, and where the bathroom is. At Discovery Point, where he reminds people that it’s illegal to feed wildlife, a Canadian tourist asks about the snow pack (about 600 inches this year).
A German tourist asks about fish in the lake. Reinhardt says fish were put in the lake in the ’20s to attract people to come to the lake and fish. Another asks him why so many pine trees are down along Highway 97 coming into the park. He explains that some trees were killed by fire, some by insects.
Reinhardt often educates people about the park’s rules instead of issuing a citation, and he says there are few arrests at Crater Lake. Judging by 1998’s statistics, there aren’t many crime reports, either.
Among last year’s 157 crime reports were 11 drug violations, six larcenies, two assaults, one arson, one burglary and one attempted burglary.
There were 144 minor offenses such as a dog off a leash.
Because crime reports are minimal, the rangers sometimes consult with police from other agencies who get more experience in handling crimes.
“Most of the time, it’s really mellow,” said chief ranger George Buckingham. He said the park is safe, and speeding is probably the most common offense.
Asked why the crime is low, Buckingham said people tend to commit crime where they live. Reinhardt attributes the low crime rate to the park’s remote location and the lack of a nearby big city. The average visitor’s stay is a half-day, shorter than at other parks. And, he said, Crater Lake isn’t a big-name park like the Grand Canyon, which attracted 4.2 million visitors last year.
When the summer season ends and most of the tourists leave, the rangers shift their law enforcement efforts. There are mushroom poachers to crack down on, and they must protect the park’s elk, bear and deer from illegal hunters. Hunting and mushroom gathering are illegal in the park.
But for now, Reinhardt gets a call to the lodge, where a tourist has a broken finger.
“We never know what’s going to happen each day,” he said.
July 23 1999 Cartographer Phil Kelley notes that ongoing land and rock slides from the Watchman and Hillman peaks have noticeably narrowed Skell Channel. “It’s certainly gotten narrower. It will fill up, but that will take another thousand years.”
July 29 1999 Rim Drive is finally opened for the summer. One of the latest openings on record.
August 8 1999 Crater Lake lookout is under renovation By PAUL FATTIG
The weathered Watchman is getting a face-lift.
The Watchman fire lookout tower and trailside museum, built in 1931-32, is being rehabilitated. The Watchman as a fire tower will always have a role for spotting fire. It has a clear view of the west side of the park, and a full view of the upper Rogue (River) area. It’s a classic example of the Cascadian rustic architectural style.
That style incorporates large native lava boulders and heavy wooden beams into an attractive structure that blends in with the majestic scenery at the park.
This summer’s work, which ends Sept. 21, includes restoring the catwalk surrounding the observation deck, the exterior stairway and the museum roof.
Next summer the rehabilitation will turn to restoring the observation deck, and the interiors of the observation room, museum and lower rooms, he added.
Leading the work will be preservation specialists from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Md. While doing the rehabilitation work, the specialists will teach 10 trainees from Crater Lake and other national parks the technique.
The $430,000 cost of the two-year project comes from park entrance fees established through the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, authorized by Congress in 1996.
BUT THE MONEY RAN OUT BEFORE ANY INTERIOR WORK WAS COMPLETED. THE FRONT DOOR STILL LETS THE SNOW PILE IN DURING THE WINTER.
The lookout used to have the highest-elevation flush toilets of any park in the nation, but they were closed down 25 years ago because the sewage was running down the mountain.
Fall 1999 Dr. Doug Larson writes a 31 page article for the Oregon Historical Society’s Oregon Historical Quarterly entitled: Probing the Depths of Crater Lake – A CENTURY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH in Crater Lake.
November 20 1999 Spending bill includes work at Crater Lake The spending bill approved Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives includes more than $45 million for Oregon projects, Including restoration work at Crater Lake. Items include $1.73 million for restoring buildings at Rim Village in Crater Lake National Park.
Fiscal year 1999 $3,495,000
Visitation 476,168 visitors (Online says: 417,992)
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