Douglas Larson Oral History Interview
Interviewer and Date: Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake National Park Historian, February 14, 2000
Interview Location: Douglas Larson’s residence, Portland, Oregon, United States
Transcription: Transcribed by Kelli Bacher, Spring 2000
Biographical Summary (from the interview introduction)
Larson, Douglas W. Limnologist; worked intermittently on Crater Lake 1967-85.
John Salinas provided me with Doug Larson’s address about a year ago, and this led to a fruitful exchange of information that eventually included a taped interview. Dr. Larson continues to actively pursue limnological studies at a number of localities in Oregon and Washington even after retiring from the U.S. Amy Corps of Engineers. His work at Crater Lake, however, ceased in 1985 because of a controversial hypothesis about decline in the lake’s optical properties. Whatever the merits of this hypothesis, it (more than any other single factor) provided the basis to create a monitoring program that is now an ongoing part of National Park Service operations at Crater Lake National Park. The following transcription resulted from the better portion of a day spent at his residence in Portland. Additional information, including copies of published articles by Dr. Larson, can be found in the park’s history files.
Materials Associated with this interview on file at the Dick Brown library at Crater Lake National Park’s Steel Visitor Center
taped interview; correspondence, copies of published articles, and donated slides. Copy of Douglas Larson’s Ph.D. thesis in the park library along with other research.
