Friends of
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Volume 8 No. 2 * Winter 2003
Volume 8 No. 2 * Winter 2003
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Friends of
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Volume 8 No. 2 * Winter 2003 |
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PRESIDENT'S REPORT 
This morning (November 16) I pulled up http://www.craterlakelodges.com/cratercam.htm and took a look at the Crater Cam that the park concessionaire maintains at Rim Village. The parking lot is covered with snow and a snowplow is busy pushing snow. It's not even 8 AM and s/he's almost done so things must be going well for them today. However, I also read a newspaper article reporting that the NPS operating budget "increase" for this year will not even come close to covering inflation costs. If the newspaper's figures are correct and my challenged math skills serve me correctly, that is less than a third of what would be needed just to stay even with last year. That means significant cutbacks somewhere. Now, more than at any time I can remember, the National Park Service and Crater Lake National Park need our support. The Crater Cam on a early winter morning with the snowplow nearly done pushing snow.Since the last Friends Newsletter, the license plate project has been completed for this year as well as the annual work project. Both were very successful. See Judy Buckingham's stories elsewhere in this newsletter. We held the annual meeting in October as scheduled. Attendance was not high, but the meeting seemed to go well and I think everyone had a good time. The weather was perfect and the facilities were perfect. Superintendent Chuck Lundy gave us a whole morning of one of his few 'days' off." The park concessionaire, Xanterra, served a very nice lunch in the lodge dining room. I can't think of anything that went wrong! Two members, Jan Wilson and Molly Widmer are leaving the Board, but not the Friends. Both did outstanding jobs and we will miss them. Jan served two three-year terms and so must leave. Molly got married on the same day as the annual Friends meeting. We congratulate her and her spouse and wish them well. In their place, the membership elected Greg Reddell and Nona Donahue. Nona is new to the Board, but she put in a lot of time this summer volunteering in the park. Greg is a long time Friends member, past president of the Board and our Newsletter publisher and editor. See their biographies elsewhere in this newsletter. Both are valuable additions and we look forward to working with them. Board members John Salinas and Larry Smith were reelected to continue their good work. Officers for the coming year are: President George Buckingham, Vice President Tom Dew, Treasurer Sandie Seifer and Secretary Donald Rome. We have about half our membership's e-mail addresses. I sent announcements for the annual meeting electronically as well as dues reminders. Discovered that getting fancy with logo's was a bad idea. They clogged up everyone's in boxes with huge files. Several people explained that to me in terms that I could understand. Judy reports that the dues reminders seem to work well. We will keep things simple in the future. Probably, we will send bare bones versions of the newsletter, sans photo's etc. A printed version will also be sent. Still want to have more frequent e-mail information available for those who provide an e- mail address. A few addresses didn't work, so if yours has changed, please let us know. The next Board meeting will be held on January 24, 2004 in the Medford area. Board member Larry Smith will be our coordinator. The primary focus will be setting priorities for the year and organizing ourselves. All Friends members are welcome to attend. Just let Larry know so he can make arrangements (lsmith@wave.net). Our primary winter volunteer project is staffing the winter rim information desk. Training is being held on November 22. You may be reading this after that date, but no worries. Attending the formal training is optional. On-the-job training is also available. This is a very fun job and very much needed. Contact Park Ranger Pete Peterson at 541-594-3093 or pete_peterson@nps.gov. (Don't forget the underscore between "pete" and "peterson".) Please give us any feedback you have concerning how the Friends can do a better job of supporting Crater Lake National Park. George E. Buckingham
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George Buckingham - Chiloquin, OR (President)
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Email
World Wide Web
Our Address Crater Lake Web Cam http://www.craterlakelodges.com/cratercam.htm In This Issue
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Friends of CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK * Volume 8 No. 2 * Winter 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
