Military Saves the Day for Crater Lake Sonar Research
National Park Service News Release
Department of the Interior
Office of Communications
July 29, 2000
In 1886, while trying to map the bottom of Crater Lake for the
first time, William Steel wrote in his journal, “How shall we
launch the boat now that we have got it here?” One hundred
fourteen years later, Natural Resource Chief Mac Brock was
wondering the same thing. Until yesterday, July 28, Brock and
others at Crater Lake National Park were struggling to find a
way to move an 11,200 lb. research vessel from the rim of the
caldera to the lake surface 1000 feet below. The boat and its
sonar equipment are the critical tools to be used in a modern
effort to precisely map the floor of Crater Lake, the nation’s
deepest lake.
“We fell victim to the wildfires that have been cropping up all
over the west,” Brock said. “We had contracted with a commercial
helicopter company to move the ship last Monday [July 24], but
before they could come they were called to fight fires in
Montana and Nevada.”
The
fire situation in the intermountain west only got worse as the
days ticked by. By Wednesday, July 26, very high to extreme fire
conditions had sparked over 27 new major fires in the west. “It
became clear to us that all of the commercial helicopter
companies would be tied up on those fires,” Brock said. “Our
only hope of pulling this project off was to ask the military
for help.”
And help they did! Yesterday, July 28, the U.S. Army Reserves
from Company A 5th Battalion, 159 Aviation Regiment sent a
Chinook CH47D helicopter with its pilot and crew to airlift the
research boat into Crater Lake. “We are very grateful to the
military,” said Park Superintendent Chuck Lundy. “Without their
help we could not have conducted this valuable research
project.”
The sonar mapping will continue for the next 5 to 6 days at
Crater Lake National Park. Images from the project may be viewed
on the Internet at http://tahoe.usgs.gov/craterlake/.
Contact(s): Mac Brock, Crater Lake National Park,, (541)
594-2211 ext. 600
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