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.
Various recommendations were proposed for Rim Village improvements, the thrust of which were to remove development and return portions of the area to a natural state. It was recommended to remove the rental cabins, relocate some 185 parking spaces from the rim to the cabin area, restore some eight acres of rim parking area to pedestrian green space, construct a new lodge access road, and reorganize the existing two-acre lodge parking lot. It was proposed to construct an all-season interpretive center at Rim Village, remove the existing Exhibit and Community buildings, replace four obsolete comfort stations with two new ones, and remove excess roads in the picnic area. All new development, with the exception of the lodge access road, was to occur on existing developed land. All told, some 10 to 14 acres of development was to be removed from Rim Village with 8-12 acres being returned to a more natural state.
The capacity of Mazama Campground was to be expanded by the addition of 52 walk-in sites, central parking, and two comfort stations on 12-15 acres of partially-disturbed land. Other recommended improvements to the campground included relocation of a registration kiosk, replacement of an employee cabin with an employee residence, and construction of a camper services building.
Proposals for Munson Valley included replacement of obsolete employee housing and removal of obsolete maintenance structures. Replacement of facilities was to occur on existing developed sites. All told, a probable decrease in total land use was anticipated as a result of removal of some maintenance structures. Additional storage structures were to be added to the maintenance storage area in the southern panhandle of the park.
Various proposals were designed to upgrade the park facilities at the north entrance station. Water collection/storage system and sewage treatment facilities were to be added at the north entrance. An obsolete employee cabin was to be removed and replaced with new residences near the northern perimeter of the park. An information/orientation facility with parking area would be constructed. Two to four additional acres of land would be required for the north entrance developments. [65]
