Big bash planned at park in 2002 Crater Lake National Park will hold a birthday party...and you're invited!

Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
March 23, 2001
By LEE JUILLERAT

CRATER LAKE — Chuck Lundy is feeling more and more like a party planner.

Not just any party. Next year Lundy will coordinate a bash that will involve Crater Lake National Park's usual half-million visitors along with special guests celebrating the 100th anniversary of the park's creation.

Lundy's party planning includes sprucing up the park, including some long-wanted repairs at the Rim Village area. Construction crews will launch a $1.74 million Historic District Rehabilitation Project this May.

Several Rim Village buildings will be closed during the project, which is expected to last until October.

The renovation was previously scheduled to begin in 2000 and take two summers, but plans now call for having it done in a single season. The Kiser Studio, Sinnott Memorial, Community House and rim restroom will be closed while repairs are made.

Rangers who normally work at the Kiser Studio, which serves as a Rim Village visitor contact station, will be relocated to a temporary trailer. New geological and interpretative exhibits costing $450,000 are being prepared and should be in place at the Sinnott Memorial, the "pill box" on the rim wall, by next summer.

Road and drainage work will also be done along the esplanade between Crater Lake Lodge and the main village.

"It'll be great to have that work done and those facilities renovated in time for our Centennial," said Lundy.

Another $750,000 in improvements are planned to remove and replace aging, dangerous boat docks at Cleetwood Cove and Wizard Island.

Lundy also hopes that members of Oregon's Congressional delegation will have better luck obtaining money to handle two long-desired but expensive projects — the removal of the Rim Village parking lot and construction of a visitor center. Even though the park is nearly 100 years old, it has never had a true visitor center.

The Bush administration has pledged to double funding for the National Park Service's lengthening backlog of construction projects.

Lundy is promoting a $1.25 million proposal to renovate the old superintendent's residence, located in the Munson Valley headquarters area, as a science and learning center. A science-based curriculum is being developed by park staff and the Jackson County Education Service District.

Lundy envisions a Crater Lake "campus" with meeting spaces, museum collections and overnight accommodations for teachers, researchers and students. The Mazama dormitory, which houses concession employees, could be used for school-aged groups. Existing park buildings may be renovated for summer lodging.

"It's my hope that with the Centennial we can dedicate the facility (the former superintendent's home) for that future use," Lundy said.

Money to pay for the ongoing science programs could be funded through receipts from a special Crater Lake license.

A bill currently before the Oregon Legislature would provide up to $150,000 to design and produce the plates. Profits from license plates sales would repay the state's cost with other proceeds going to the National Parks Foundation for Crater Lake projects.

The Metropolitan Group of Portland has been hired to help with marketing, raising money and coordinating Centennial activities.

About $1.5 million is needed to fund a new park video, history book, artist in the park program, Will Steel drama, Centennial events, symposium, license plates and the science learning center. More than $500,000 has already been pledged from various sources.

The park's Natural History Association provided $15,000 while another $28,000 was provided by a Klamath County Volcanic Legacy grant to hire Metropolitan.

Lundy says Metropolitan will develop programs to increase the Friends of Crater Lake membership and continue donor opportunities beyond the Centennial.

"We want to see this live on," explained Lundy. "We'd like that donorship to continue on to the future because we will always have worthwhile projects."

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