Draft Winter Use Plan, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, 1994

 Chapter 4. Winter Use Plan

WINTER USE PLANNING PROCESS

Development of the winter use plan began with a series of park staff and consultant planning meetings held at Crater Lake National Park headquarters in early November 1993. The purpose of these meetings was to discuss the overall scope of the winter use plan, identify issues to be addressed in the plan, and develop a series of draft alternative winter use scenarios that would provide a framework for public discussion regarding the future of winter use in the park. The winter use alternatives described varying levels of use and locations for the four active winter uses described earlier in this document.

Public meetings were held in Klamath Falls, Medford, Roseburg, and Portland, Oregon, during the week of January 10, 1994. These meetings provided the public with an opportunity to discuss and comment on the four draft alternative winter use scenarios. A Public Meeting Workbook discussing the planning process was distributed to those in attendance and is provided for reference as Appendix C of this document. Approximately 190 people attended the four meetings. More than 135 written comment letters were received.

Consistent with the goals and strategies outlined in other park planning documents and public comment regarding the alternative winter use scenarios, the NPS developed eight winter use management objectives. It is the NPS’s intent that the following management objectives be the guiding policies for winter use in the park:

 

• Management Objective 1 – Protect the natural, geological, and cultural features of Crater Lake National Park from impacts associated with winter visitation and use.

 

• Management Objective 2 – Provide essential information and safety programs for all winter visitors.

 

• Management Objective 3 – Provide high-quality interpretive and educational programs relevant to the winter environment of Crater Lake National Park.

 

• Management Objective 4 – Preserve the opportunity for a quiet, solitary experience for winter users in the park’s backcountry, encouraging nonmotorized, low-impact modes of travel and overnight camping. During winter, treat the unplowed Rim Drive as backcountry wilderness.

• Management Objective 5 – Provide a frontcountry, handicapped-accessible viewpoint of Crater Lake for all visitors during the winter.

• Management Objective 6 – Provide access to a Crater Lake viewpoint for mechanized snow machines.

• Management Objective 7 – Provide adequate, but minimal, commercial visitor support services and facilities to accommodate the modest levels of use expected in the foreseeable future. Encourage private development of new support facilities outside the park.

• Management Objective 8 – Provide an adequate level of winter emergency and maintenance service capabilities to support winter operations.

 

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