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2007
January 3 2007 Peter DeFazio wants Interior Department to rethink Crater Lake fee hike
By Paul Fattig Mail Tribune
http://www.mailtribuneforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1224
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio is urging the Department of the Interior to reconsider a proposed $10 entrance fee increase at Crater Lake National Park.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, said he was opposed to the proposal, which would double the Crater Lake fee for motor vehicles to $20.
“It doesn’t make sense to increase the park fees while national parks are struggling to attract visitors,” DeFazio said in a prepared statement. “I am concerned that the increase in fees at Crater Lake will discourage regular visits by Oregon families.
“I agree that the national park system is in need of additional funding, but raising fees for park visitors will only drive visitors away,” he added. “Instead, the Department of the Interior should raise the money it needs to improve the park system by collecting the royalties that oil companies owe the United States.”
DeFazio also observed that Crater Lake has been bucking the trend of declining national park visitation.
“Park officials attribute the steady visitation at Crater Lake to regular return visits by Oregonians,” he wrote. “I am concerned that the doubling of fees will deter regular trips by Oregon families and Crater Lake will join the parade of national parks experiencing declining visitations.”
February 26 2007 Crater Lake closes access roads Officials have closed the south and west entrances to Crater Lake National Park today because of snow, eliminating access to the park by road. The National Park Service reported that the park has received 34 inches of snow in the past two days and continued snow is expected. Park headquarters had 81 inches of snow on the ground Feb. 20, well below the 108 inches that are average for this time of year.
The park averages 533 inches — nearly 45 feet — of snow each year. The greatest cumulative snowfall for one season was 879 inches — 73 feet — the winter of 1932-33. The greatest depth on the ground at one time was 258 inches, 211?2 feet, during the winter of 1983.
February 28 2007 Top 10 most dangerous U.S. volcanoes
Based on U.S. Geological Survey ratings of size and potential damage of an eruption.
- Kilauea, Hawaii
- Mount St. Helens
- Mount Rainier
- Mount Hood, Oregon
- Mount Shasta, California
- South Sister, Oregon
- Lassen Volcanic Center, Calif.
- Mauna Loa, Hawaii
- Redoubt, Alaska
- Crater Lake, Oregon
Spring 2007 Dr. Doug Larson writes a Data Analysis of “Probing the Nation’s Deepest Lake on a Shoestring” detailing 30 years of Lake Research. LakeLine – Volume 27, No. 1 – A publication of the North American Lake Management Society.
May 24 2007 North Entrance opens for the summer season – several weeks earlier than normal because of a low snow year.
June – July 2007 The National Park Service on Saturday will resume a search for the remains of an 8-year-old Portland boy who disappeared in dense forest last October during a visit with his father to Crater Lake National Park.
Dave Brennan, chief ranger at the park, said two to five teams, each with a dog trained to detect human remains, would conduct the weekend search in an area near where Samuel Boehlke disappeared.
Two search teams began the search Monday and Tuesday, covering between 200 and 300 acres near Cleetwood Cove on the north shore of the lake, Brennan said. The search Monday also included a helicopter but turned up no solid clues on the boy’s whereabouts, he said.
Samuel disappeared about 4:30 p.m. Oct. 14 after he apparently scampered over an embankment, heading north away from the lake, near a turnout on Rim Drive, just east of Cleetwood Cove.
“We’re sure hopeful we’ll find Sammy or at least some clues that will take us in a certain direction,” Brennan said. “That’s what’s been so frustrating. We’ve yet to recover anything where we could say, ‘Sammy was here.’ ” — Edward Walsh
July 1 2007 FW: Crater Lake Chronicles
From: <NOVAKD42@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007
Hi Larry,
I just spent time reading your chronicles of Crater Lake National Park. The account of the death of William Godfrey in Nov., 1930, is a familiar one to me. My mother, Gladys Darling Brewer, was the telephone operator on duty at the Ft. Klamath Telephone Office at the time Godfrey was on his way to headquarters. He called from somewhere along the route to tell anyone at headquarters that he was on his way and if he didn’t reach there at a certain time, they were to send out a search party. My mother kept calling the Crater Lake office, the calls were answered by a caretaker who was hard-of-hearing, and he kept saying to call back later because he couldn’t hear the message.
As a consequence, by the time the rescuers were sent, they were too late.
My mother was also the first telephone operator at the Crater Lake Offices at Headquarters and worked there several years. If you can find the exact years she worked there, I would love to be able to write down those dates. (Thanks in advance!!!)
I was first linked to your site because “Google” listed it as a source of information of the death of Larry Peyton & Beverly Allen who met at Crater Lake during the Summer of 1960 and were later killed in Portland, OR, in Nov. 1960. Larry was the son of Ralph & Katherine Peyton who were in the concessionaire partnership at Crater Lake with Jim & Janet Griffin. During that summer, Larry worked on the boat crew and Beverly worked at the gift counter in the Cafeteria Bldg.
I worked as a seasonal employee from the summer of 1959 through the summer of 1962, first for Harry Smith, et al, then for the Peytons & Griffins.
My family ranch (and where I grew up) is along Highway 62 about 2 miles from the south entrance to Crater Lake National Park. So I remember and was interested to read the account of the murders that took place just beyond the South Entrance in the summer of 1952. I have always been curious about the solving of that crime.
Thanks for the interesting reading,
Darla Brewer Novak
Chico, CA
July 9 2007 Crater Lake among early entries for “natural wonder” status.
The natural wonders of the world are truly breathtaking. They make us stand in awe and wonder how they ever came to be. Learn some fascinating facts about a few of them.
July 8 2007 “Why is Crater Lake So Blue?” A book based on the 1975 Crater Lake Water Crisis that shut the Park down. Michael was working at the Park that summer. For 30 years Michael LaLumiere talked himself out of writing a book about Crater Lake. But at some level he knew he would have to do it.
The book is a coming-of-age story about a young man who is a student at the University of Oregon in the mid-1970s and works summers at Crater Lake National Park. Sam, the central character, is a socially inept young man/fish out of water who spends the summer working on the park’s buildings and utilities crew: the bottom of the food chain. He befriends a young woman, and there are political and moral crises, and Sam must make a decision. MT
August 1 2007 The Oregonian BY BEN LARSON
The soggy day of fieldwork that Buktenica led July 18 is part of a broader research program to monitor the lake’s health and explore its unique ecology. This summer, researchers are unleashing an arsenal of instruments on a complex underwater moss colony that thrives on a platform of submerged volcanic rock around Wizard Island on the lake’s west side.
“It’s very clear that there’s this whole ecosystem buried in the moss that we’re totally unaware of,” said Bob Collier, an Oregon State University geochemist who will conduct further research at Crater Lake this month.
When the project began in 1984, Buktenica — then a graduate student studying trout in the lake — became the first research scientist dedicated to the study of the lake.
“Crater Lake happens to be one of the largest clear lakes in the world, and also one of the better protected, both politically and geographically, from pollution,” Buktenica said. “And because it’s so pristine, it has tremendous scientific value.”
In 1995, the National Park Service expanded the operation and hired another scientist, Scott Girdner. Buktenica and Girdner form the backbone of a research operation that not only conducts fundamental research on lake ecology but also attracts specialists from all over the United States.
One of the moss study’s goals is to figure out how the moss contributes to the organic matter in the lake. “It’s all still very exploratory.
The moss grows in a narrow range between 100 and 460 feet deep. The submerged platform around Wizard Island falls squarely within this band, and lush fields of moss cover the watery terrain. A bed of moss consists of a soft green layer, 3 to 6 feet thick, set atop a layer cake of peat like moss that can extend down as far 20 feet.
Collier will bring in bottom-penetrating sonar and several types of coring samplers from around the world. His goal is to develop a more detailed picture of the interior of the strange green community.
Such exotic techniques are necessary because the depth of the moss prevents scientists from using conventional methods. Scuba divers can get to the top of the moss with just enough air to last about five minutes. Without costly submersible operations, most of the samples come from camera tows that entangle the moss when they collide with it.
Speculation is that the moss may double once a year — a snail’s pace compared with other types of algae that double once a day.
Techniques have come a long way from the old days when a black and white disc was used to measure optical properties of the lake. Researchers back then lowered the disc until it disappeared, then recorded the distance as the depth of light penetration.
“The real sophisticated stuff started in the early 90s,” said Hargreaves, who uses optical measurements taken continuously throughout the water column to determine the abundance of chlorophyll, organic matter and certain types of bacteria.
August 11 2007 32nd running of the Crater Lake Rim Runs 2007 Champions:
(Men) 6.7 Walk – Larry Hildebrandt, Woodbury, MN., 1:16.31
6.7 Run – Joe Dudman, Portland, OR., 36.59
13.0 Run – Trevor Hanlin, Grants Pass, OR., 1:18.21
26.2 Run – Jeff Caba, Bend, OR., 2:59.40
(Women)
6.7 Walk – Amy Coe, Klamath Falls, OR., 1:01.28
6.7 Run – Melanie Neilitz, Medford, OR., 49.39
13.0 Run – Erica Strandberg, Corvallis, OR., 1:38.07
26.2 Run – Becky Kirschenmann, Klamath Falls, OR., 3:53.16
August 29 2007 Remains of Long Missing Body at Crater Lake
Herald and News?Klamath Falls, Oregon? August 29, 2007
By LEE JUILLERAT
CRATER LAKE — Skeletal remains of a body found in a remote area of Crater Lake National Park last summer are being studied to determine if they might be a person missing in the park since 1991.
Park ranger Dave Brennan said information about the discovery, made by a firefighter last September in the remote Bybee Creek area of the park, was withheld pending further investigations.
Winter snows prevented rangers from reaching the area until this summer, when park rangers were began a joint investigation with FBI agents and an FBI recovery team.
“From the condition of the remains it was evident they had been there some number of years,” Brennan said.
Along with limited remains, a small number of personal effects were found last year and again this summer. Not enough were found, however, to make an identification. Remains include teeth with dental work, which Brennan said “gives us the possibility of making an identification by dental records.”
Brennan said law enforcement officials have contacted the family of Glenn Allen Mackie of Brea, Calif., whose vehicle was found at the Rim Village parking lot in October 1991. His driver’s license, keys, passport, cash and toiletries were in the car, but no trace of Mackie was ever found.
“We’re certainly looking at that possibility,” Brennan said. “The challenge in 1991 was we did not know where he went to. Brennan described Bybee Creek as very remote, heavily wooded and “not the kind of spot where people would tend to go.” The cause of death remains unknown and Brennan said there is no indication of criminal action.
In a related matter, Brennan said search efforts earlier this summer for Sammie Boehlke, an 8-year-old who has been missing in the Cleetwood Cove area since last summer, have “come up absolutely empty.” Searchers spent five days probing the region where Boehlke was last seen.
August 30 2007 Park tour boat vandalized The Crater Lake tour boat Rogue at Crater Lake National Park was vandalized sometime Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
The National Park Service and Xanterra Parks and Resorts are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in the incident.
The Rogue is one of three tour boats that provide interpretive tours within the caldera of Crater Lake.
Summer 2007 “Since 1983 when regular monitoring began, summer surface water temperatures have been rising at an average rate of 1.1 degree F (0.6 degree C) per decade. Summer night time air temperatures in the park have been rising at about the same rate”
“The increase in air temperature is consistent with patterns observed throughout western north N. America. A floating weather buoy on the lake measures air temperature, water
temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. The buoy is anchored above the lake’s deepest point and is visible from many places on the rim.
The data (plural) are transmitted via radio signal to Park HQ and is available to the public.
Summer 2007 Condition Survey is issued for the Watchman and Corrals. A Historic District Assessment and Report. A preservation plan is included in the Assessment. 29 very important preservation recommendations are made that need to be completed to preserve the Watchman’s historic integrity.
September 2 2007 THIS OCCURRED south of Ft. Klamath approx. five miles south on a curve.
Park employee woman dies in Jeep accident near Crater Lake
A Fairview woman died late Sunday when she lost control of her Jeep Grand Cherokee on Oregon 62 near Crater Lake. Two passengers were injured in the accident.
Oregon State Police reported that Renea Michelle Midgley, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene, near milepost 95. Christopher Kevin Roberts, 21, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and Ionut Burlaca, 23, of Romania were able to get out of the Jeep with minor injuries after it landed on its top in a canal. The three were believed to be employees of Crater Lake National Park.
The one-vehicle crash happened about 11 p.m. Sunday when the Jeep went off the southbound roadway in a curve, came back across both lanes, hit a ditch on the north side of the highway and flipped onto its top.
September 3 2007 FORT KLAMATH ˜ A 29-year-old Crater Lake National Park employee died late Sunday night when she lost control of her car and it rolled into a canal, pinning her inside, Oregon State Police reported. Authorities say alcohol appeared to be a factor in the crash. Renea Michelle Midgley of Fairview was trapped inside her car before authorities used the Jaws of Life to remove her. She was killed instantly. Her two passengers suffered minor injuries. Highway 62 near Fort Klamath was closed briefly while authorities investigated and removed the vehicle from the water.
October 24 2007 Douglas Roach (1906 – 2007) worked at Crater Lake from 1934 – 1942. Doug and wife Sadie were one of the first couples to stay year around through the Park’s deep snow winters. The cabins in Sleepy Hollow had been built as summer cabins. The Roaches’ cabin was minimally winterized with no insulation. They used the deep snow for insulation.
Mr. Roach spent many years following his employment at Crater Lake managing the fruit packinghouse at Harry & David’s. Larry Smith worked for him the summer of 1959.
October 27 2007 Screaming wind downs forest trees
Crater Lake Park hit by gusts of up to 60 mph By Anita Burke Mail Tribune
High winds toppled trees in the mountains around Prospect and Crater Lake National Park Friday morning, closing forest roads and even Highway 62 for a short time..
Dave Grimes, a ranger at the Crater Lake National Park visitor’s center, said a falling tree had struck a car driving to the park from Klamath Falls. No one was hurt, but the rental car “had a dent on top,” he said.
Park rangers also reported several large, old trees near the park’s residential area blew down, as well as groups of trees in more remote areas of the park. About two dozen mature hemlock trees, ranging in size from 18 inches to four feet in diameter, had snapped or been uprooted in the Castle Creek drainage southwest of the park along Highway 62.
Grimes said Oregon Department of Transportation crews cleared the highway and park crews removed trees from roads in the park.
October 28 2007 Crater Lake’s Rim Drive may get special designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Steve Mark, Park Historian, has received approval from the Sate Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation to send a nomination to the Keeper of the National Register for final approval. Once it is on the register, it’s official.
October 31 2007 Jeff Allen, Crater Lake Trust. A unanimous Oregon Congressional delegation today sent a letter to Jim Nussle, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, calling on the Bush administration to include $2.5 million in the Interior Department’s budget to create a new Visitor Education Center at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.
Representative Greg Walden stated: “My family and I have visited, hiked in and enjoyed the wonders of Crater Lake National Park many times and it is one of the most awe-inspiring wonders of the world and a defining natural feature of our great state of Oregon. I am very happy to join in a bipartisan effort with all my Oregon House and Senate colleagues to support this effort.”
Representative Peter DeFazio added, “Crater Lake is a national treasure, and it deserves to have facilities worthy of its unique beauty, its history, and its ecological importance.”
In a creative public-private partnership, federal funds would be matched by $2.5 million in private contributions to be raised by the nonprofit Crater Lake National Park Trust. “Oregonians love Crater Lake,” noted Executive Director Jeff Allen. “By making donations to the Trust and purchasing Crater Lake license plates, they have already given over $3 million to Park facilities and programs. Oregonians will give – but the Federal government must also do its part.”
The Trust hopes to have federal and private funding secured in time to break ground by Summer 2009, in time for Oregon 150, the state’s sesquicentennial celebration. “We can’t think of a better ‘birthday present’ for the state of Oregon,” said Allen.
November 12 2007 Herald and News By LEE JUILLERAT
Whoever becomes Crater Lake National Park’s next superintendent will likely be starting off with improved finances. President Bush’s proposed 2008 budget calls for substantial increases in National Park Service funding, including $900,000 at Crater Lake.
Outgoing Superintendent Chuck Lundy said that money would be used to hire 14 interpretive and maintenance seasonal rangers, a new permanent law enforcement ranger and more natural resource rangers
Lundy believes a new superintendent should consider forging stronger relationships between the park and state, including efforts to have the Oregon Department of Transportation assist park crews with an earlier opening of the park’s North Entrance Road. “Once the North Entrance is open, it is a real economic impact, especially for the gateway communities,” he says.
Lundy also promoted increased rolls for the Crater Lake Natural History Association, which provides financial aid and staffing at visitor contact stations; Friends of Crater Lake, which provide volunteers for a range of park projects; and the Crater Lake Ski Patrol, volunteers who patrol the park’s snow-covered trails during winter.
“Out of the Centennial was developed and expanded partnerships with our neighbors and our congressional delegation.”
During his tenure, Rim Village underwent a facelift, historic Munson Valley buildings were converted into a dorm and offices for the science and learning center, and a new restaurant was built or online for construction, but he says the groundwork is laid for what he sees as the next superintendent’s major task.
“It borders as incomprehensible that America’s sixth national park does not have a legitimate visitor center,” he said, “I think we’ve done as much as we can to get some momentum.”
“The sense of ownership Oregonians have, their love affair with this park, has me feeling good about the park,” Lundy says. “This park creates a lot of great memories, whether you’re a visitor or work here. It’s an incredibly unique place that’s not duplicated anywhere in the world.”
November 24 2007 Two rangers involved in Crater Lake shooting identified Associated Press
Officials have released the names of 2 Crater Lake National Park rangers involved in the shooting of a camper in 2005. The two rangers were long ago cleared in the shooting of 38-year-old Ronn Merl Ward of Sunnyvale, California. Investigators say Ward was involved in a domestic dispute, wielding a large club and threatened to kill the rangers. Officials say supervisory ranger Peter Reinhardt and seasonal ranger Pieter Sween used pepper spray on the charging Ward, but he continued to charge and Sween shot him twice at close range. Chief Ranger Dave Brennan says the rangers are now comfortable with the release of their names, and making information public can help with healing and closure.
Reinhardt is still a Crater Lake law enforcement ranger. Sween now works at another park. This story appeared in NPS News Digest.
Fiscal Year 2007
Visitation: 2007 469,048 visitors
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