An interpretive prospectus was approved for Crater Lake in May 1972. The document, developed by Denver Service Center and park personnel, was intended as a guide for the orderly development of an interpretive program in the park by inventorying the park resources, identifying its thematic elements, and recommending appropriate facilities and services through which the message could be communicated to the public. An “interpretive concept” was developed to provide a philosophical framework to govern the direction of the park program:
An interpretation of Crater Lake National Park should convey more than the known and supposed circumstances of its origin. Although geologic fact and theory are especially compelling when they relate to something of the magnitude of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake, they are unlikely to occupy a visitor’s thoughts longer than his encounter with the next natural marvel on his vacation agenda. Striations left by a glacier which grew warm and died 10,000 years ago cannot long hold one’s attention when he is confronted by the icy spectacle of Mount Rainier. Nor can a long-silent and cool volcanic artifact vie for a visitor’s thoughtful consideration when he is standing amidst steaming fumaroles and boiling mudpots.
Certainly, interpretation should lead to a better understanding of the geologic forces of volcanism and mountain building, and lend meaning to the pure beauty of Crater Lake. But the real value of this story is its commentary on the mechanisms of change. The significance of the changes that sired Crater Lake thousands of years ago are timely and relevant to the present. Interpretation should contribute to an awareness of how, if we do not learn to understand and guide the forces of change which we are capable of perpetrating, we may be engulfed by great upheavals in our world and our lives, as surely and swiftly as were 17 cubic miles of this ancient mountain.
If interpretation is approached in this way–if the skeletal components of fact and theory are skillfully articulated, and firmly bonded by a relevant concept–a more lasting and meaningful response to the Crater Lake experience will result.
According to the prospectus the park interpretive program was to accomplish three objectives. The goals were to (1) provide information and orientation services; (2) facilitate the physical interaction of the visitor with the environment; and (3) foster the intellectual involvement of the visitor by providing those facilities and services necessary to meaningfully interpret the natural values of the park. To realize these goals, major program objectives were proposed to include the following:
– 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.
