Was that one of the reasons why Russ Dickenson sent you down there (33)?
Perhaps that was it, yes. Again this was kind of a programmatic thing. It wasn’t just me and Frank Betts, who was the superintendent of Crater Lake at the time. Frank was kind of anxious to have another bone to chew on, so to speak. There was a superintendent at Mount McKinley who was looking for a different climate. I had not been aggressively seeking a new position at that point. Russ was aware that my interest lay in a full time park management position. There was a kind of four way deal which Russ arranged that came about through a series of phone calls to all four of us in one evening. It allowed for Dan Kuehn, superintendent of Mt. McKinley, to replace me in my role at the regional office. I would be going to Crater Lake while Frank Betts would be going to Mount McKinley. There was another individual involved, but that part of the four way dual didn’t work out. This just included the three of us, so it didn’t involve applying for the job. Everybody seemed to be pleased with these moves.
It was just a lateral transfer?
Yes. It gave everybody a little bone to chew on, rather than being due to anybody’s deficiencies or something like that. I think it was good for the health of the Park Service in general.
Did you have some priorities that you wanted to go after right away?
I was very familiar with the park objectives, as I explained earlier, because I had worked with several park superintendents and Ernie [Borgman] in developing management objectives as Crater Lake, but also at Oregon Caves and John Day Fossil Beds.
Was the general management plan something that you were directly involved with?
At that point in time we did not have a GMP. We were still living under the old master plan approved in 1974, I believe. I felt there was a need for a master plan or a GMP update.
One was approved in 1977 under Frank Betts.
Okay, but it didn’t address enough things. I felt the need for a new one. I was told we just had one and it is too soon. I felt a need for a new GMP, I really did.
