The “Cultural Resource Management Plan” was the responsibility of the Interpretive Division with guidance from the resource management specialist. Its principal objective was “to identify, evaluate, preserve, monitor, and interpret the Park’s cultural resources in a manner consistent with requirements of historic preservation law and National Park. Service Policies.” [59]
A new Resource Management Plan was approved by Acting Pacific Northwest Regional Director William Briggle on February 28, 1986. The “Natural Resources Management Program” in the plan stated that the park “is primarily a natural resource area, managed in such a manner as to allow natural processes to occur.” Nine objectives of the natural resources program were listed:
1. Identify and protect critical resources within the park with the highest priority being those related to the caldera ecosystem.
2. To allow, to the greatest extent possible, natural processes to occur, e.g. wildlife, vegetation, soils, geology, and fire.
3. To foster a public awareness and appreciation for the park specific resources through interpretation and public contact.
4. To gather as much credible and scientifically valid information on park resources, through internal and external means, and to apply that information to management decisions.
5. To monitor activities adjacent or near to park boundaries and to work. cooperatively with other agencies to minimize impacts on park resources.
6. To minimize visitor use impacts on park resources through public education and restriction of activities with potential of impact to areas of low sensitivity.
7. To minimize the impacts of park administrative activity by restricting those activities to areas of low sensitivity and concentrating development to pre-disturbed areas.
9. To correct and rehabilitate areas of previous use so as to restore them to natural appearance and processes.
In the plan the park’s natural resources were listed in a general priority based on the criteria of resource sensitivity, applicability of federal or state laws, congressional mandates, responsiveness to management programs, and the immediacy of a perceived threat. The priority listing read:
Caldera ecosystem
Rare and endangered species
Air quality
Fire management
Basic resource inventory
Park management and visitor use
Integrated pest management
Livestock trespass
Pumice field management
