In 1942 Associate Regional Forester Jack B. Dodd prepared a comprehensive “Report on Forest Protection Requirements for Crater Lake National Park.” The report presented an overview of forest protection policies in the park from the time of Coffman’s report until May 1942. The study found that there had been 152 fires in the park during the eleven-year period from 1931 through 1941–110 lightning-caused and 42 man-caused (smoker, 24; camper, 5; debris, 4; and miscellaneous, 9). As part of the campaign to promote fire prevention, efforts had been made to establish strict park regulations regarding fires and to promote general public awareness of the fire threat.
During the 1930s and early 1940s the park engaged in an active fire hazard reduction program using the services of Civilian Conservation Corps personnel. Clean-up to reduce the fire hazard was carried out along all major roads, power and telephone clearings, and some of the motorways. “Cat trails” were cut through the formerly logged Yawkey Tract and efforts to clean up the unburned slash and snags cleft by the clogging operations in the area were conducted to reduce the fire hazard and preserve the vegetative cover of the tract. Two primary fire detection lookouts were located in the park, one on the rim of the crater on the west side of the lake called the Watchman and the other on Mount Scott, a volcanic cone on the east side of the lake several miles distant from the crater rim. During the 1930s two seasonal fire guards were on the forest protection and fire prevention payroll, both of whom were stationed at park headquarters until 1940. In 1941 one remained at the headquarters to handle fire matters in the southern half of the park, while one was stationed at the North Rim Ranger Station. An extensive telephone and radio system was installed and proved useful in fire suppression work. Fire weather stations were maintained at park headquarters, the two lookouts, and Lost Creek Ranger Station during the fire seasons in 1938, and the U.S. Forest Service cooperated by providing weather data. The park purchased enough fire fighting equipment to supply 150 to 175 men. Annual firefighting training schools for park personnel were instituted in the late 1930s, and in 1935 plans were drawn up by the chief ranger outlining the duties of fire protection personnel and providing for the employment of transient labor to supplement the ranger organization, other park personnel, and CCC enrollees in fighting fires on an as-needed basis. In 1937 cooperative agreements were drawn up with the Rogue River and Umpqua national forests and the Klamath Indian Reservation for mutual fire suppression aid. These cooperative agreements were extended indefinitely in 1938. [33]
C. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: 1940s
Despite the virtual shutdown of regular park operations during World War II, park management continued to be concerned with resource management issues. One of the continuing problems facing the park was wildlife protection. In November 1944, for instance, the park master plan described the problems facing park wildlife:
The topography of Crater Lake National Park. consists mainly of a mountain top of high elevation, without adequate winter range in the adjacent valleys for the various park animals, which migrate to lower elevations each winter because of the deep snow fall. Except for such animals as hibernate during the winter months, no natural faunal unit exists within the park, which in reality constitutes an entirely inadequate range for many of the larger or migratory park animals, and causes them to fall prey to hunters and trappers each year as they move outside of the park boundaries.
The area immediately to the east of the park is adjacent to the Klamath Indian Reservation, and the Indians, natural-born hunters, recognize no closed season. The east slope of the Cascade Range in the park area is therefore believed becoming particularly depleted of various larger or migrating animals. The west slope of the range, a small part of which is within the park, and the area to the west of the park boundary in the Rogue River National Forest, constitutes a more favorable range. Unfortunately these animals, particularly bear and deer, migrate in and out of the park into the adjacent National Forest area or on to privately owned lands, where more or less hunting of bear, deer and lesser animals continues throughout the year, with but slight regard for the open and closed seasons, enforcement of which is vested in local authorities. Many “old-timers” still consider they are justified in killing a deer, an elk or a bear any time they get the chance. [34]
