2004 PROJECT WEKEND
Eleventh Annual Project Weekend
A long tradition continues

What: Annie Creek Trail Work
Where: Trail starts at Mazama Campground
When: August 20, 21, 22, 2004

This year the Friends will join the trail crew in another visit to Annie Creek. The Annie Creek trail begins and ends at Mazama Campground. The trail twists and turns down the steep walls of Annie Creek Canyon, then follows the creek and crosses it several times before again snaking its way up the canyon wails. Due to is proximity to the large Mazama Campground and the opportunity to visit one of the few places running water is available in Crater Lake National Park, this is a very popular trail. One of the foot bridges crossing Annie Creek needs to be replaced. The last time we worked on Annie Creek, rebuilding a bridge proved to be one of the more popular tasks. There is lots to learn and a real sense of accomplishment when you are finished. There are also several other trail tasks that we will tackle. Water bars need maintenance and improvement. Bushes need to be trimmed back. There will be jobs for everyone, no matter your physical strength, endurance or other inclinations. All volunteers will be signed up as official "Volunteers in Parks" (VIP) and thus will be treated as regular federal employees in the event of a injury or negligence claim (which we do NOT expect to happen!).

Speaking of different jobs, we need someone(s) to take on the task of being our "camp host". This means planning and preparing food for the hard working volunteers. The Friends will buy the food. We accept donations to help defray those costs.

We will have campsites (free) for all volunteers at either Mazama or Lost Creek campgrounds. Friends with RV's can only camp at Mazama Campground. One of the more fun aspects of this weekend is the visiting and eating together. Typically, we camp Friday and/or Saturday nights with dinner, it's harder to get together before work, so bring your Saturday and Sunday breakfasts and something for lunches. The Friends house is also available on a first come, first serve basis. Friday afternoon and evening (August 20) is devoted to social pursuits. Saturday morning August 21 we will begin work at 9:00 A.M., so Friends can drive to Crater Lake Saturday morning too. Don't worry about being late, there will be somebody at Mazama Campground to help you find the Friends. We work all day Saturday, clean up a little and spend the evening eating and talking at one of the campsites. Sunday morning (August 21) we finish up and then leave for home around noon or so. We will work out further details later.

We do need to know who is coming so we can reserve campsites and plan our menus. Contact any of the board members or me (George Buckingham) at foclnp@alwaysonnetworks.com or 541-783-3136.

A NEW FRIENDS BROCHURE

By the time you read this, you will have noted that we have included a couple of our new Friends brochures. The Board is pretty proud of this product and we hope you agree. Everyone on the board contributed a great deal of work. It took a long time ad was more work than we aticipated. It is amazing how many mistakes one can find! They just keep appearing! We found a excellent printer who worked with us, and educated us, and we owe a word of thanks to Mustard Press of Medford, Oregon.

Our next project is to upgrade this newsletter. The hope is to use the same general style elements to create a more attractive and readable newsletter and one that is readily recognized. We also hope to produce the newsletter in a format that is attractive ad that we can enmail without clogging up your computer. I guess I owe everyone an apology for my ignorance the one time I did send the newsletter, complete with photos, etc. in Word. Forgive my ignorance please. Using email, we can communicate more often and at a price we can afford. We will still need to use U.S. mail, as less than half our membership has provided email addresses.

Many of our email addresses are "bouncing". I think folks are changing email addresses and forgetting to tell us. There is seldom any "forwarding" of email so we have no way of updating unless you tell us.

Pass these brochures along to your friends ad neighbors, encouraging them to join and support the work of the Friends in supporting Crater Lake National Park. If you need more for your recruiting efforts, just let us know. (foclnp@alwaysonnetworks.com)

CYCLE OREGON and the FRIENDS OF CRATER LAKE
September 17

The Friends still need volunteers to help with the Cycle Oregon lunch stop. 2,000 cyclists from Cycle Oregon will be visiting the Valley of the Rogue and Crater Lake on their 2004 Cycle Tour in southern Oregon. Cycle Oregon has invited the Friends to sponsor the lunch stop on September 17 at Picnic Hill at Rim Village.

Lunch tables from one of Cycle Oregon's trips

Cycle Oregon will donation of $2,500 to the Friends for our help at the lunch stop. This is a great opportunity for the Friends to help Crater Lake National Park for this event and maybe find more members. Cycle Oregon provides everything we will need to sponsor the lunch stop, and will have it on site. All we have to do is have friendly, hard working Friends. Contact a board member or me at foclnp@alwaysonnetworks.com or phone 541-783-3136 if you can help on this event and most of all, recruit more volunteers.

Thank you,
George Buckingham

VOLUNTEER IN PARKS
George Buckingham

There are many volunteer (VIP) opportunities still available at Crater Lake National Park this sunmmer. Performing as a VIP is one of the more rewarding experiences a Friend of Crater Lake can have. I encourage you to give this a try. Work schedules are flexible ad varied. Time is available to pursue personal agenda's while contributing to resource management, maintenance and visitor experiences. A wide variety of skills and abilities can be accommodated. Park staff are good trainers and easy to work with. And, of course, park visitors are a joy to meet and serve.

Below is a list of some of these projects, please contact me to arranged for your "tour of duty". The Friends have the use of an historic stone house for Friends working as VIP's. It is a comfortable, modern, if not lavish house. Just staying in the house is a very pleasant experience.

Some training is required for Volunteers and Crater Lake's needs for volunteers are changing as the summer passes. It will help me arrange for your volunteering if you give me some lead time to make arrangements with the staff at Crater Lake National Park. So if you see a chance to help the Friends help at Crater Lake contact me at foclnp@alwaysonnetworks.com and 541-783-3136.

Adopt-a-Boundary - Protect resources, provide visitor information and assistance, and protect park boundary integrity.

Adopt-a-Trail - Protect resources, provide visitor information and assistance, and maintain trails.

Contact visitors - disseminate park information and assist visitors through roving visitor services at Rim Village, rim overlooks and campgrounds, or information desk at Community House focused on future Science and Learning Center.

Coordinate park alumni information - maintain alumni database; capture interest and energy of alumni from Centennial year and use it to increase interest in Friends, volunteer opportunities and future reunions.

Remove exotic plant species - such as annual roadside hand pulling of exotic species. 2004 sites include Spruce Lake (mullein, St. Johns wort)

Collect seeds from native plants for use in park revegetation projects.

Participate in revegetation of disturbed sites by providing labor to help with revegetation of larger sites or by "adopting" smaller sites and taking ownership for successful revegetation

Provide trailhead and roving trail visitor information and assistance on Cleetwood Cove Trail in peak visitation hours during boat tour season. This "preventive search & rescue" program would provide specific, detailed information to visitors on the difficulty of the trail, inquire whether visitors have adequate water/food/clothing, and discourage visitors with breathing, walking and cardiac problems from attempting the hike.