How did planning for rehabilitation of Park Headquarters come about?
As you well know, the project around headquarters, the upgrade of seasonal quarters, and even Steel Circle developments are something where the regional director set priorities and are somewhat limited by funding that might be available. When money is available even NHPA could sometimes be twisted around. What I’m trying to say is that various factors enter into this. Sometimes striking when the iron is hot pays big dividends. Priorities for maintenance funds or whatever are meshed with other parks within the region. Sometimes you almost feel like some other park is getting all the money, especially when I think back to Crater Lake and those seasonal quarters. That Sleepy Hollow project just kept being kicked down and we kept trying to push for replacing those seasonal quarters. It was really gratifying to me to finally see that come to pass. The need was recognized, but it was slow in coming.
I’m trying to remember who was ram-rodding historical preservation in the regional office (22). I ‘d like to take some credit, but I can’t take that much praise. We were trying to preserve some of those building, especially that dormitory at headquarters. Early in the planning phase some studies come into play. Don Peting headed one study at the University of Oregon (23). They came down and did some studies about the tail end of my tour as superintendent. I was involved in doing some of the initial programming for that project. As for the specifics of some of the designs, I went up to Portland one time to meet some architects—Zaik/ Miller, Di Bennidetto. I went to review some plans, especially for the remodeling of the interior of the Administration Building. I played a role in trying to facilitate the project. Other disciplines entered the picture, and they probably had more influence than I did.
Was the closing of the Klamath Falls office a big factor in the administrative people coming back up to the park, since they needed office space?
It was a factor but not all that important. Under the Klamath Falls group, the administrative assistant was in Klamath Falls and our personnel specialist would not have been a personnel officer. Those administrative forms were processed through the Klamath Falls office. Prior to my arrival, Crater Lake was under the I & RM concept. They finally moved away from that but there was an interpretive specialist in Klamath Falls that assisted the chief ranger, who was chief of I & RM (24). The interpreters were getting short changed under that kind of program, so this eventually split into two separate programs, under a chief of interpretation and a chief ranger (25).
