As required by the Wilderness Act, public hearings were held on the Crater LakeWilderness Proposal in Klamath Falls and Medford in January 1971 . Various proposals were set forth by public agencies and private organizations at the hearings. The Wilderness Society introduced an alternate proposal to enlarge the wilderness designations in the park by opposing the proposed Union Peak Motor Nature Road and the 1/8-mile management zones along the park boundary and recommending that a 20,000-acre Caldera Wilderness, encompassing Crater Lake, the islands, and the undeveloped rimlands, be included in the wilderness designation. Major organizations that generally supported or had similar positions to that of the Wilderness Society included the Izaak Walton League of America, Friends of Three Sisters Wilderness, National Parks and Conservation Association, Oregon Wildlife Federation, and Sierra Club. [51]
A “seasonal” wilderness concept was proposed by the Oregon Environmental Council whereby two wilderness boundaries would be established for the park. One boundary would be designated during the summer visitor-use season, and a different boundary would be established for “winter wilderness,” closing the entire northern part of the park to all motorized vehicles during the winter months.
The National Park Service proposal, however, was supported by the Oregon State Game and Fish commissions and seven other public agencies. Among the most important supporters of the Park Service was the U.S. Forest Service whose national forest lands surrounded the park.
For the next several years the National Park Service studied the oral and written statements presented at the hearings and restudied the question of management needs. In February 1974 the final wilderness recommendations for Crater Lake were approved by NPS Director Ronald Walker. Three additions, totaling 18,200 acres, were recommended to supplement the earlier proposal. Some 7,300 acres were added to Preliminary Wilderness Proposal No. 3 as a result of deleting the proposed Union Peak Motor Nature Road and closure to vehicular traffic of the fire roads in the Union Peak area, portions of which would become the route of the Pacific Crest Trail. The 1/8-mile-wide management zone, totaling 4,400 acres, was recommended for addition to the wilderness designation since it was “believed that actions needed for the health and safety of wilderness travelers, or for the protection of the wilderness area, utilizing the minimum tool, equipment or structure necessary, may take place within the wilderness.” Wilderness Unit 5, comprising 6,500 acres along the rim area on the southern side of the lake within the Rim Drive and the caldera walls, except for the Cleetwood Cove access and service corridor, was also recommended for designation. With these additions the total acreage of recommended wilderness designation was approximately 122,400. [52]
The wilderness recommendation was sent by President Richard M. Nixon to Congress on June 13, 1974. Pending congressional action to establish formally the areas as designated wilderness, the areas were managed in accordance with the guidelines prescribed in the Wilderness Act and the National Park Service wilderness management policies. [53]
In 1980 Public Law 96-553 (94 Stat. 3255) provided for the qualification of additional acres for designation as wilderness in Crater Lake National Park. This law added nearly 16,000 acres from U.S. Forest Service RARE II lands, resulting in a total proposal of some 138,310 acres in 1981 . The additional acreage was developed using a zone concept based on straight lines drawn on the park map. A serious drawback of that technique, however, was the difficulty of determining where on the ground nonwilderness ended and wilderness commenced.
The current proposal for wilderness designation in Crater Lake National Park, according to its 1986 Statement for Management, incorporates three principal concepts. These are that: (1) nonwilderness extends 200 feet beyond the edge of all development including motor vehicle roads; (2) all park areas not currently falling within this 200-foot corridor around development are recommended for wilderness designation; and (3) the entire lake surface is recommended for wilderness designation except for four acres at Cleetwood Cove and four acres at Wizard Island where boat docking and storage occur. The Park Service has taken the position that the existence and continued use of the concessioner-operated tour boats and the lake research boats do not preclude the lake surface from wilderness designation (NPS Management Policies, VI-7, 1978). Thus, the current acreage within the park recommended for wilderness designation is 166,149.
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