Parks receive stimulus funds: Crater Lake, Lava Beds to use funding for improvements
Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
April 24, 2009
By Lee Juillerat
H&N Regional Editor
Captain Jack’s Stronghold is one of the Lava Beds National Monument’s most popular attractions. Lava Beds and Crater Lake National Park will receive federal stimulus money for improvements.
Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument will receive $367,000 and $511,000, respectively, from federal stimulus money.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday that $750 million in stimulus funding would be used to restore and repair national parks.
At Crater Lake, the money will pay for installing heating and cooling systems in three buildings and a fire system in a historic warehouse.
“We’re very happy to get the $367,000,” said Craig Ackerman, Crater Lake’s superintendent. “Those projects might have had to been put off for several years otherwise.”
The park did not apply for stimulus money to convert the former Rim Village gift shop to the park’s first-ever visitor center because structural engineers determined the building needs a new foundation, which will require more planning. Estimated cost of a visitor center is $5 million.
“I would have absolutely loved to have had the Rim Village visitor project to go,” Ackerman said.
He said about $60,000 will be used to install the fire system in a historic warehouse with the rest used for improved heat management systems in the park headquarters building, Steel Center and Canfield building. During winter days, it’s not uncommon for staff in some offices to wear sweaters and jackets while others have windows open to cool their workspaces.
Lava Beds
At Lava Beds National Monument, the bulk of the $511,000 will be used to apply aggregate to the unpaved road from the park to the Medicine Lake Highlands. Other work includes replacing inefficient lighting fixtures in administration buildings, retrofitting water valve handles, and washing down and cleaning the interior of caves.
“These are good, simple, basic jobs that will help. It’s not wasted work,” said Dave Kruse, Lava Beds’ superintendent.
In addition, he said, other projects not funded by stimulus money are already scheduled. A new garage will be built this summer so heavy equipment and trucks can be kept indoors, a project costing about $600,000. In late July, all park roads and parking areas will be chip sealed at a cost of about $2 million.
Other pages in this section
- Government will buy $1 million of land in Siskiyou monument – October 30, 2009
- OIT Environmental Science Students Learn at Crater Lake – Oct. 22, 2009
- Three missing people found: hunters, mushroom hunter located Saturday – October 18, 2009
- Crater Lake Wilderness: Oregon’s ‘best idea’ needs protection – October 17, 2009
- Wet weather ends fire season around region – October 13, 2009
- Roosevelt historian: He was a ‘thinker’; Brinkley will share stories from new book inaugural lecture – October 12, 2009
- Prescribed burn postponed at Crater Lake: Park Service to wait until forecasts are more favorable – October 9, 2009
- Prescribed burns set for next few months: Agencies will burn nearly 15,000 acres, mostly in Jackson, Josephine counties – October 9, 2009
- Search exercise to cover area where boy was lost – September 11, 2009
- National Park Service Announces Appointment of Dr. Gary Machlis as Science Advisor to the Director – August 12, 2009
- Extra pair pays off in Crater Lake Rim Runs – August 9, 2009
- Wilderness proposed at Crater Lake – August 07, 2009
- Oregon Wild warns legal action on Crater Lake helicopters – August 6, 2009
- Cantwell: Jarvis Well-Qualified for the ‘Greatest Job in the World’ – July 28, 2008
- Senator Wyden issues statement condemning Crater Lake National park helicopter tours – July 27, 2009
- Desert Ridge Wildland Fire continues burning at Crater Lake National Park – July 21, 2009
- Whitney Wildland Fire nears containment at Crater Lake National Park – July 21, 2009
- Cameron (Cam) Sholly has been selected as the new superintendent of Natchez Trace Parkway – July 15, 2009
- Rep. Dicks supports Jon Jarvis for nomination of National Park Service Director – July 10, 2009
- USGS volcanologist Charles Bacon gives Mount Mazama geologic history talk – June 23, 2009
- USGS volcanologist Charles Bacon receives award at Crater Lake National Park – July 8, 2009
- Review: Geologic Map of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake Caldera, Oregon by Charles R. Bacon – July 7, 2009
- Free entrance weekends at Crater Lake National Park – June 20, 2009
- Oregon Congressman Proposes “Aerial Gondola” to Wizard Island – Summer/Fall 2009
- Lichen Survey Hits the Jackpot One-Day “BioBlitz” Uncovers 61 Species Not Previously Recorded at Crater Lake – Summer/Fall 2009
- A Conversation with the Park’s Chief of Terrestrial Ecology – Summer/Fall 2009
- Black Bear Census Set to Begin: Park to Estimate Population Using Hair Samples and DNA – Summer/Fall 2009
- A promise fulfilled on roadless forests – May 28, 2009
- Crater Lake Lodge opens for 2009 season – May 21, 2009
- Marcella Isabella Stine (1918 – 2009) – May 22, 2009
- Lawrence Campbell Merriam Jr. (1923 – 2008) – May 22, 2009
- Wayne R. Howe: 1920 – 2008 – May 21, 2009
- Passing of John Bowdler (1925 – 2009) – May 4, 2009
- Mercy Flights makes life-saving donation to Crater Lake park – February 24, 2009
- Rescue at Crater Lake: specialized rescue team saves man from icy slope – February 2, 2009
- Former National Park Service director George B. Hartzog Jr. dies – January 31, 2009
- Ski patrol member watches over park: Niel Barrett is a charter member of the ski patrol at Crater Lake National Park – January 30, 2009
- Paradise in Blue: Snowshoe trek at Crater Lake informative, easy, free – January 22, 2009
