Larson honored for Crater Lake work

Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
August 18, 2002

Douglas Larson of Portland was awarded the Centennial Award for Excellence in Scientific Research at Crater Lake during ceremonies at Crater Lake National Park last Sunday.

Larson is the lake's most published limnological investigator. He first became interested in the lake's limnology of the lake while he was a student at Oregon State University in 1967.

Most of his publications stem from the time he donated his time as a limnological researcher during the mid-1970s and through the 1980s, when he was a "Volunteer in the Park."

Larson's work and findings, along with the work of other investigators, are included in the Oregon Historical Quarterly and the American Scientist.

Institute members said the park's existing limnological research program "owes its origin to the publications and concerns expressed by Larson regarding the possibility that anthropogenic activity was increasing the biological productivity of the lake, thus affecting a reduction of lake transparency."

Those concerns eventually led to the renovation of Rim Village waste water disposal system in the early 1990's.

Crater Lake is among the clearest bodies of water in the world.

The Crater Lake Institute, a private non-profit institute, is also establishing the Douglas W. Larson Limnological Research Scholarship Fund, which will be supported from donations from individuals and organizations interested in furthering independent scientific research on Crater Lake's limnology.