Men from the field of education made up the seasonal ranger force and high school boys constituted the fire protective organization. [67]
With the approach of the end of the war, NPS park, regional, and Washington Office administrators engaged in lengthy debate whether Crater Lake should be reopened as a summer or year-round operation. Political pressure, generated by various organizations, influential individuals, and nearby communities, was building for resumption of year-round operation of the park. In a memorandum to the Region Four Director on October 6, 1944, Superintendent Leavitt analyzed the options of the Park Service in responding to these pressures:
If the Service were in a position to resist this pressure on the ground that it was detrimental to the park and contrary to park policies–an argument which is applicable in resisting the pressure for grazing, for example–we might be able to maintain Crater Lake as a summer park only, but we have no such argument to justify such a policy, in view of the successful operation of the park on an all-year basis for more than seven years. . . .
About the only justification that we can make against all-year operation is:
1. The difficult living and working conditions in an area of such heavy snowfall. . . .
2. That the cost of administration, protection, operation, maintenance and repair during the winter months is an excessive expense when compared with the relatively small number of visitors that take advantage of the facilities the park has to offer during the winter season. . . . [68]
During the months following the end of the war it was determined to reopen the park on a year-round basis. To facilitate this decision it was announced in March 1946 that as soon as funds became available an all-year park headquarters area would be established near the south entrance of the park. Behind this decision was the belief that Crater Lake suffered more severely from the lack of a suitable park headquarters and utility area than from any other problem. The existing park headquarters in Munson Valley had been constructed more than a decade before for summer operation only and was not laid out for economical and efficient operation during the winter months, nor were any of the buildings constructed for year-round use. The proposed area was located on a southern exposure with flat terrain and had an average winter snow depth of only three to four feet. The issue of the new headquarters, however, would continue to be discussed and studied until 1964 when the Park Service resolved to establish year-round headquarters at Munson Valley. [69]
The opening of the travel season at Crater Lake in 1946 witnessed the resumption of year-round park operations. On June 15 the Crater Lake National Park Company resumed furnishing lodging, meals, and transportation services to the public after more than three years of non-operation. Maintenance and operation of the park on a year-round basis commenced on July 1, Congress having provided the necessary funds for its administration.
