The duties of the supervisory park rangers were outlined in a position description certified by Assistant Regional Director Keith Neilson on March 20, 1963. The list included nine areas of responsibility:
1 . Protection of life, property, and the preservation of park values
2. Control of forest insect and tree diseases
3. Law enforcement and traffic control
4. Direction of checking station procedures and operations
5. Dissemination of information relating to public use of the area
6. In-service training
7. Wildlife and aquatic populations and accompanying problems
8. Search and rescue
9. Maintenance [28]
During the 1960s Crater Lake park management promoted development and improvement of methods and standards for visitor protection and resource management. This goal was to be achieved by emphasizing effective manpower utilization of the ranger force. In 1965, for instance, such an emphasis took the form of five objectives.
a. Continue the present programming of road patrols with the present low accident frequency rate.
b. Increase trail patrol, maintenance and improvement.
c. Continue the desire to furnish the very best of equipment and outside training for all permanent protection staff.
d. Continue the practice of on-the-job training for all seasonal employees.
e. Improve visitor contact by increasing dissemination of basic information at entrance stations by the use of visual aids and handouts. [29]
By the mid-1970s the park ranger force had been placed under the Division of Interpretation and Resource Management. Answering to the chief of the division were two supervisory park rangers and one park aid. During the summers the park employed about twenty seasonal rangers and nine seasonal fire control aides. The duties of the rangers, which had changed little over the years, included:
. . . the responsibility of the protective personnel to protect the park and its features from damage, misuse, or destruction, and to provide for the safety and health of the park visitors and employees. This responsibility includes traffic control, forest and building fire control, tree disease and insect control, public health and sanitation, accident investigation, law enforcement, first-aid, search and rescue, protection of wildlife, collection of motor vehicle fees, distribution of information to park visitors, and other related areas. [30]
As a result of park reorganization the ranger force had been placed under the Resource Management and Visitor Protection Division by the early 1980s. An updated function statement prepared for the division in September 1986 indicated that the work of the division was supervised by four specialists under the direction of the chief. The specialists were in the fields of resource management, natural resources, law enforcement, and fire management. Supervision of various ranger activities fell under each of the specialists. [31]
***previous*** — ***next***
