4. An Act to Add Certain Land to the Crater Lake National Park in the State of Oregon, and for Other Purposes (47 Stat. 155–May 14, 1932)
The long-sought effort to provide a more attractive southern entrance to the park and secure a more available water supply for park utilization was achieved by legislation in June 1932. On March 1 of that year Representative Robert R. Butler of Oregon introduced a bill (H.R. 9970) providing for the transfer of land from Crater National Forest to the park for such purposes. As introduced the bill provided:
That all of unsurveyed sections 2 and 11, north half and north half south south half section 14, and those parts of unsurveyed sections 1, 12, and 13, lying west of Anna Creek, in township 32 south, range 6 east, Willamette meridian in the State of Oregon be, and the same are hereby, excluded from the Crater National Forest and made a part of the Crater Lake National Park subject to all laws and regulations applicable to and governing said park. [14]
After the bill was referred to the House Committee on Public Lands its chairman, John M. Evans of Montana, requested the views of the Interior and Agriculture departments on the proposed legislation. On March 18 Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur submitted a memorandum in support of the bill that had been prepared by National Park Service Director Horace M. Albright three days before. In his memorandum Albright stated:
The extension proposed to be authorized by this legislation is the so-called Annie Creek extension of approximately 973 acres, to the south of Crater Lake National Park as recommended by the Coordinating Commission on National Parks and Forests.
The purposes of this extension are to secure for the Crater Lake National Park a more attractive entrance amid fine yellow pine forests and to secure a more available water supply for park purposes. This is of great administrative importance.
Because of unfavorable natural conditions and lack of available water supply at the south entrance to Crater Lake National Park, the idea of extending the park boundary some 3 miles farther south to include Annie Creek and the highway has been under consideration for the past five or six years. Such extension would provide a far more imposing park entrance and at the same time enable the development of a gravity water supply for ranger uses at the entrance.
The area was inspected by the Coordinating Commission on National Parks and Forests in 1926 and full agreement was reached on this proposed extension, which was also concurred in by the Forest Service. . . .
Albright went on to report that “an entirely new description of the area proposed to be added to the park” should be given in the bill. Hence he recommended new boundaries for the addition to the park:
That all of that certain tract described as follows: Beginning on the south boundary line of Crater Lake National Park at Four Mile Post No. 112; thence west along the south boundary line of said park 4.26 chains which is the northwest corner of this tract; thence south 114.42 chains; thence south 40°59′ east, 84.39 chains; thence east 15.13 chains to highway stake No. 130; thence north 89°30′ east, 18.06 chains; thence north 20.83 chains; thence north 19°40′ west 126.04 chains; thence north 27°52′ west 43.50 chains to the south boundary of Crater Lake National Park; thence west 24 chains, following the south boundary of said park to the place of beginning, in.
On March 16 Secretary of Agriculture Arthur M. Hyde submitted a report that gave less than enthusiastic endorsement to the bill, provided that Albright’s revised boundary description was incorporated into its text. Hyde observed:
. . . It is understood informally from the National Park Service, that the bill incorrectly describes the lands which it is desired shall be affected by it and that a new description will be proposed; that this new description covers an area of approximately 973 acres extending along both sides of the Fort Klamath road for a distance slightly in excess of 2 miles; that the purpose of this addition is to insure a more attractive entrance to the Crater Lake National Park by giving especial protection to the timber along the highway.
This department feels that as a general rule such piecemeal adjustments of coterminus boundaries between national parks and national forests are less desirable and effective than comprehensive and permanent adjustments based upon careful studies of all factors involved which will include within the park all areas predominantly of park value and exclude from the park all areas predominantly of industrial value. It also dissents to the idea that the inclusion within national parks of the roads giving access thereto is essential to the maintenance of the scenic attractiveness of such roads, since this department in the administration of the national forests also adheres to a policy of conserving the scenic values of the lands abutting on the highways. In this particular instance, however, representatives of the Forest Service have agreed that the addition of a certain area to the park would not seriously conflict with the use and management of the surrounding national forest lands, and if the bill is amended to correctly describe that area, this department will offer no objections to its enactment.
