– Provide information and directional assistance necessary for the safe and enjoyable use of park resources.
– Lead visitors to the best possible vantage points from which they may view the lake and its surroundings, yet offer nothing that will compete for attention.
– Reveal the story of Crater Lake’s origin, and introduce visitors to the agencies of natural change that were–and still are–at work here, and, by inference, everywhere. Interpretation should emphasize that change is a constant and universal quality of the natural world.
– Encourage inquiry about fundamental meanings and relationships, and foster informed concern about environmental quality. Interpretation should depict man as the powerful agent of change that he has become.
– Develop imaginative and relevant approaches to interpretation that will leave the visitor with lasting impressions.
The prospectus identified the principal theme elements of the park. While the principal goal of the interpretive program was to relate the specific facts about Crater Lake to the general theme of change–and man s role in the process–the story elements were basically geologic. Interpretation must therefore build toward that concept by contributing to the visitor’s understanding of the geologic forces that built and destroyed Mount Mazama. Major theme or subject matter areas to be included were:
– The pre-Mazama period–the stage setting for the uplift of the Cascade Range.
– The building of Mount Mazama–its continuous growth and alteration by volcanic activity and glaciation.
– The formation of the caldera–intensified activity and the collapse of the summit.
– The post-collapse period–residual volcanic activity and the formation of the lake.
– The present–continuing alterations by wind, and water, and man.
Interpretation should be concerned with the idea of geologic effects on the environment, emphasizing the emerging role of man as he affected the geology. Attention should be focused on the uncommon purity and clarity of Crater Lake and the circumstances that had contributed to those qualities.
The prospectus contained a number of interpretive proposals that were concentrated around and near the rim because the lake was the exclusive focal point of interest in the park. Relatively few time-consuming activities were proposed, predicated on the fact that Crater Lake was a predominantly day-use park with 60 percent of the visitors staying less than 4 hours and 20 percent remaining for only 4 to 8 hours.
The highest priority for interpretive development within the park was assigned to the long-planned and still unrealized rim visitor center on the south rim in the vicinity of the Exhibit Building. The visitor center, according to the prospectus, was to be a low-profile, all-season structure designed to accommodate large numbers of visitors and to make the Sinnott Memorial an extension of the structure by means of a ramp or stairs. The visitor center would be the focal point of interpretive orientation and development within the park, containing a built-in information desk/sales area, a large relief model of the park, and exhibits and pictorial material relating to the aesthetic values of the park. It was to contain a 250-seat auditorium for showing orientation films and slide programs. Renovation of the Sinnott Memorial was recommended for use as the prime location for interpreting the overall geologic history of Crater Lake on a year-round basis with emphasis on personal contact interpretation.
