It might force that occasional interpreter to learn more about the lake program?
Sure does. So that’s kind of what it’s all about.
What sort of relationship did you have with the state parks? Did you participate in their annual tours?
I was on a couple of the tours. Not on the whole tours, just portions of it. That was something that we worked and worked and worked on. It wasn’t a total failure, like the fire program that I mentioned, but, boy, it was kind of a dud. And I don’t know why. I knew Dave Talbot well (64). I talked with him, conversed with him, and was on a first name basis with he and some of his key staff in the capital. I got along really well with him. I thought it was a very positive relationship. We tried. We asked the people at Collier State Park to participate in training with us. We asked them to come up to our seasonal training. We wanted them to participate in our fire program and our interpretative program and our maintenance things. The same thing with the state park at Lost Creek (65). They were always extremely polite – gee, thanks a lot, how nice of you to ask us – and they never ever once showed up. I figured, well, you know, there’s this business of the big bad fed with lots of money and, you know. . . I would stop. I talked to the superintendents or their managers in every one of those areas. They were always very nice, but I never could get a spark lit anywhere there. And I asked George Buckingham. Maybe the big superintendent in the sky, maybe that’s not the angle. Let’s move it down. Why don’t you try this same type thing? And George is generally excellent in his outside community relations, with the Forest Service and all these kinds of things. George usually does that very well. And as far as I know, he never got any takers either. I never could figure it out. I never ever did. And it isn’t because we didn’t try. We really worked at it. I felt that we had the opportunity to cross feed each other. We could contribute to their success, and they to ours. Stewart State Park makes a wonderful bedroom campground to Crater Lake. Or an early season campground to Crater Lake. Gee, it just never worked. I don’t know why to this day because it wasn’t for lack of trying.
I’ve been down to do programs, but there isn’t much more than just come down and talk to us and we’ll see you next time.
Peter Thompson, even before George (66). Pete was about as friendly a guy as ever existed, and he didn’t make any dents in it. I don’t know what we could have done. Whatever it was, it was not one of those things that was a success.
