With the completion of two more housing units in the Munson Valley area the Mission 66 program at Crater Lake was completed during the summer of 1966. As a result of the program, park buildings, utility systems, interpretive activities, and recreational opportunities had been improved to National Park Service standards. Moreover, the program’s accomplishments enabled the park to centralize its year-round administrative and maintenance activities at Munson Valley, all such functions having been transferred to the park in September 1964. [60]
During the remainder of the 1960s and the early 1970s construction and development programs continued at Crater Lake, although at a considerably reduced level from the Mission 66 years. In 1967, for instance, three picnic areas were constructed at lower elevations in the park, permitting early use by visitors before snow was gone from the regular campgrounds. [61] Park construction projects during the early and mid-1970s included extension of the Watchman Overlook and Sleepy Hollow sewer systems, erection of a new concessioner’ s employee dormitory, improvements to the Annie Spring water and sewer systems, reconstruction of the west entrance road, and expansion of the Rim Village utility lines. [62] Following closure of the park in 1975 because of the water contamination crisis, plans were made to construct a new permanent park water system utilizing water from Annie Spring, an uncontaminated water source. The new water system, which cost some $600,000, was placed into service during the fall of 1975. [63]
During the late 1960s an extensive major parkwide planning effort was initiated at Crater Lake–a process that would take a decade to complete. The planning effort was spearheaded by a master planning team selected in 1967 from the National Park Service’s Western Service Center in San Francisco. By the early 1970s the planning effort, which had gone through several draft stages, was taken over by a general management planning team from the Denver Service Center. [64] As a result of the lengthy planning endeavor Pacific Northwest Regional Office Director Russell E. Dickenson finally approved a general management plan for the park in December 1977.
The general management plan contained an extensive series of proposals for development of park facilities and enhancement of visitor experiences in the park. According to the plan, existing use patterns would remain essentially unchanged. Improved information, orientation, and interpretation facilities would allow for better utilization of the visitors’ time. Lodging facilities would be decreased, while camping sites would be increased. Obsolete visitor and management facilities would be removed or replaced. Intrusion of vehicle traffic on the viewing experience at Rim Village would be reduced substantially. The Rim Village area would be restored to a more natural, pedestrian-oriented environment. Accordingly six objectives were established to govern future park development. These were to:
Provide only those facilities on the crater rim which contribute directly to the visitor enjoyment and understanding of this natural wonder.
Develop an access and circulation system which aids in reducing congestion, maximizes convenience to the visitor and park management, and provides for safe travel in the park.
Provide facilities for improved interpretation, information, and orientation programs.
Provide the necessary visitor-use service facilities in an area which does not infringe upon the lake-viewing experience–facilities which can be operated efficiently on a year-long basis.
Provide all necessary access for the handicapped to facilities and features throughout the park, and devise ways and means to enlarge upon the experience of handicapped visitors.
Provide efficient, economical, and environmentally suitable housing and administrative facilities for permanent and seasonal park employees.
The plan made a number of proposals to achieve these objectives. In terms of park accommodations capacity the plan recommended retention of the lodge for the remainder of its useful life, removal of the housekeeping cabins and fourplexes, and increases in the number of camping sites at the Mazama and Lost Creek campgrounds. The plan proposed widening of some fourteen miles of the north entrance road and west rim drive from eighteen to twenty feet minimum, repair of lake overlooks, and the addition of a bicycle lane on the one-way East Rim Drive.
