Friends of
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Volume 10 No. 1 * Spring 2005
Volume 10 No. 1 * Spring 2005
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Friends of
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Volume 10 No. 1 * Spring 2005 |
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As the Board organizes itself for another "field season", we find ourselves in a rapidly changing world. Ever changing national priorities, a gigantic national deficit, shrinking budgets and a thrust to "privatize" parks at local, state and federal levels impose questions as to what the role of a Friends organization should be. Certainly, the charter of this organization is not to become an advocacy group. However, we do feel it is our responsibility to keep our members informed and we will continue to do so. Regarding national events and changes such as those previously mentioned, we urge you to stay informed and consider what the impacts are on the National Park Service and Crater Lake National Park and to take whatever action you deem appropriate. At our last Board meeting we had a nice presentation by Sandra Claypool, the Executive Director of the Crater Lake Trust. Sandra gave us a brief description of the Trust and how she sees it working with the Friends. She used the allegory of a three-legged stool made up of the Friends (volunteers), Crater Lake Natural History Association (education), and the Trust (fund raising), all working to support the park. The Trust is a committee of the National Park Foundation.
Sandra is working on two events to raise $100,000 during this fiscal year. The funds are earmarked for finishing the interior of the two buildings for the Science & Learning Center. 
The Trust is also funding the 'Classroom at Crater Lake' program which had 800 students from Klamath, Jackson and Josephine counties last year. The curriculum is developed and teachers are trained and working with park rangers in providing education to students in the park. The Trust has one employee, Sandra, who obviously has a very full plate. It occurs to the Friends Board that we have an opportunity to provide another level of volunteer opportunity to our members. As Sandra organizes events, she can use all kinds of assistance, both with the pre-work, such as stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, typing etc. etc., as well as during events themselves. Duties such as preparing and serving refreshments, setting up meeting rooms, cleaning them up and so on. If you are interested in providing help with the details of fund raising and associated, let us know and we will pass your name along to her. Friends Activities for this summer Friends Activities for this summer will be similar to those we did last summer. Please review their descriptions elsewhere in this newsletter and consider joining with one or more of these programs. Once again the park is generously providing House 25 for the use of Friends volunteers. The primary VIP task will be roving interpretation, but other volunteer work also qualifies for use of the quarters. The sign up procedure will also remain the same. First, set up your volunteer work with the park coordinator (in the case of roving interpretation, that is Pete Peterson or 541-594-3093). Once that is established, contact me, 541-783-3136 and I will reserve a bedroom for you on a first-come, first-served basis. Between a 40th Anniversary trip to Europe (Tell me, when did I get that old?) and some surgery, I will be out of the picture from between May 20th and mid to late July. Our vice-president, Tom Dew, or 541-734-2213 will be your point of contact, as well as the other Board members. I appreciate Tom's willingness to help us out as well as the efforts of all our Board members.
Friends of CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK * 2005
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