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1989

January 3              1989       A six-member research team flies by helicopter to spend five days studying the winter water quality of the Lake.

February 10          1989       Canteen Corporation of Oregon changes its name to the Estey Corporation, though the local name of the business remains, Crater Lake Lodge, Inc.

February 24          1989       A federal appeals panel rejects a challenge by environmentalists against exploratory drilling for geothermal energy near Crater Lake.  The Interior Board decided that the BLM had prepared an adequate environmental analysis allowing California Energy to drill two test holes on the Park’s east boundary.

May 23                   1989       A federal judge stops logging on a 1,000-acre tract in near the Park boundary in Winema National Forest in the Prophecy burn.

May 26                   1989       The MT reports that the Park Service has decided to close the Lodge.  Superintendent Benton claimed, “The dead weight of the building would cause the Great Hall to collapse.  The decision was made purely on the basis of public safety.”  The 1989 fiscal budget appropriates $1.76 for Lodge planning.   The Lodge’s closure speeds along plans and money appropriation and design work for the building’s reconstruction. Public support for a rehabilitated Lodge continues to drive Congressional backing for the entire redevelopment package.

Based on this report, Regional Director Charles Odegaard orders the Lodge closed until the Park Service decides what to do with the building.

1988 – 1989 Snowfall: 588 inches, 49 feet.

August 12              1989       14th running of the Crater Lake Marathon

6.7 miles               Bob Reed of Portland, Oregon                          34:58

Jane Cleavenger, 31, of Bend, Oregon           39:46 (failed to run through “chute” at Cleetwood and was docked 16 seconds.  Her time would have been a new women’s record.)

13 miles                Matt Pinder, 31, of Ashland, Oregon 1:17:48

Angie Stevenson, 26, of Bend, Oregon           1:30:00 (new record)

26 miles                John Coffey of Portland, Oregon                      2:52:46

Hilary Simmons, 19, of Roseburg, Oregon     3:19:10

August 11              1989       A mysterious aqua-blue pool of a strange liquid is discovered at the bottom of Crater Lake. The pool measures about 2 meters wide by 8 feet long.  It is near the lush white and orange bacterial mats found last summer.  There is a yellow rim surrounding the pool.  The temperature of the pool was about 40.1 degrees F (4.5 C), one degree warmer than the surrounding Lake water. A new mite, called the Crater Lake mite was discovered the previous week. The mite is a new species that eats algae.  Algae lives in the Lake up to 450 beneath the surface. Below 150 feet the Lake temperature only changes half a degree.

August 24              1989       Deep Rover measures water temperatures of 17.7 degrees C while probing bacterial mats at the bottom of the Crater Lake.  That temperature is 14.2 degrees C higher than the surrounding Lake water. The new temperature reading is also higher than summertime surface temperatures.

Summer Conclusion of Lake Exploration with Deep Rover:  The Blue pools (Llao’s Bathtubs) are 10 times more saline then the surrounding Lake water.  Blue pools within a blue lake.  The temperature variation ranges from 38 degrees to 68 degrees inside the bacteria mats, which are 3 – 4 inches deep and of unknown origin.

The Hydrothermal inflow is estimated at 200 – 300 liters per second. Heat input, measured at 15 – 20 mega watts, is spread out immediately over a large area.  Thermoclines create a lake water turnover every 1 – 4 years.

30-foot chimney-like spires found extending upward from the bottom of the Lake, near the sides.  Most likely fossilized remains of extinct hot springs.  On the Crater wall is a 300-foot wide band of moss beginning 100 feet below the surface, completely encircling the caldera.  Some mosses discovered are found only in Crater Lake.

Only 2% of the caldera floor and walls were visually explored.

Midge fly worms (larva) were found crawling in the light gray pumice sediment on the Lake floor, leaving behind a crawl trail behind.  During the summer the larva change to the pupa stage, float 2,000 feet up to the surface, where they become midge flies.  Living only two or three days, the midges lay eggs on the Lake surface and die.  The eggs sink to the bottom of the Lake, where they hatch and begin the cycle all over again.

Final Conclusions of Deep Rover’s Lake Survey:  As a result of the past three years, we concluded that there are inputs of hydrothermal fluids in the bottom of Crater Lake.  The dissolved materials associated with these thermally and chemically enriched fluids, coupled with the overall hydrologic balances, control the observed chemical composite of the lake.  Because hydrothermal input dominates the material fluxes of most chemical into Crater Lake, the hydrothermal process is highly significant.  Furthermore, the geothermal inputs have a direct effect on the density structure of the deep lake and consequently the rate of heat, salt and nutrients redistributed.

Summer                1989       Only 130 bull trout found in Sun Creek.  A 1947 survey found 3,000.  Apparent cause of the decline was competition from non-native brook trout. Between 1912 and 1975 over 275,000 brook trout were planted in Park streams in an effort to boost fishing. Between 1992 and 2005 efforts are mounted to rid Sun Creek of non-native trout in an effort to save the native bull trout population. (Reflections – Summber 2017)

September 15      1989       Park Officials express concern that Crater Lake has become an “island of trees” in a surrounding sea of forest clear cuts.  “Our security blank for the past 87 years of being surrounded by three national forests has been stripped away and this is having an effect on the park’s wildlife.”

Season                  1989       Visitation: 448,329  (Online says: 430,734)

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