President's Report
by Greg Reddell

My first year as President of the Board was celebrated at a Board Meeting after the October 3 Annual Meeting by being re-elected as President! I enjoyed my first term as President. The Friends has some exciting projects and getting involved with them has been enjoyable for me.

A big Thank You to Crater Lake Lodge Co. for the yummy buffet at the Annual Meeting luncheon. It was great having a nice meal at the restaurant overlooking Crater Lake. Thanks to everyone who gave seminars and project reports at the annual meeting. A special thank you to Fred Topel for the tour of the new concession dorm facilities in the Mazama Village area.

There is an opportunity to help with the Winter Rim Information Desk this winter and be sure to mark our other project dates on your calendar. Also, let's welcome new board member, Donald Rome. I know Donald will provide good ideas for the Friends.

Superintendent Al Hendricks has left Crater Lake National Park. He was helpful to Bev Hartell and me with the Memorandum of Understanding. Al showed enthusiasm for the upcoming centennial of Crater Lake National Park in 2002. On behalf of the Friends I want to thank Al for his support in providing park service staff and materials for our projects and events. I enjoyed his talk at the annual meeting regarding the planning efforts at Crater Lake. It was very informative. Al has been named superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. We all wish him well.

Friends Welcome New Superintendent
by Bev Hartell

The Friends would like to extend a warm welcome to Chuck Lundy, recently named new superintendent at Crater Lake National Park.

Superintendent Lundy and his wife, Maureen, and their three elementary age children expect to move to the Crater Lake area November 8. Mr. Lundy comes to Crater Lake from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah where he has been superintendent since 1991. There he worked on the development of a General Management Plan, established a park Friends group, and collaborated with the local communities and colleges about resource issues. Mr. Lundy graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University, receiving a B.S. in Recreation Resource Management and has served at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, Lassen Volcanic National Park in California and along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. We look forward to enhancing the partnership of the Friends and the NPS under his leadership and sincerely hope he enjoys his new post.

Friends Welcome and Assist Cycle Oregon
by Judy Buckingham

The Friends participation in Cycle Oregon was a huge success. Larry and Linda Smith manned an information table at North Junction and from all reports enjoyed talking to hundreds of cyclists.

A group of 9 set up and served snacks and beverages at Kerr Notch for those who elected to ride around the lake. We had Bert and Ell Mae Young, Jack and Bev Snyder, Betty Masthay, Alice Hatch, Sunny Dehlinger, and George and Judy Buckingham who all deserve many thanks for a hard day's work. It was also a lot of fun. Chuck and Sally Wells helped behind the scenes, helping load food onto our truck ahead of time and arranging for our ice, so thanks to them, too, and to Greg Reddell for hauling horse troughs, tables, and garbage boxes up the night before and returning to pick them up the next night.

A special thanks to my husband, George, for loading our pickup to it's maximum capacity with food and drinks and driving it up that morning and hauling leftover food back down that evening. Each person who participate thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm sure, and would do it again. It was a glorious day with spectacular views, and pleasant visits with enthusiastic, fun cyclists.

Trail Project Report
by Greg Hartell, Trail Co-Chair

August 14, 15, and 16 were the dates of the 1998 Summer Project, which included bridge replacement and trail enhancement. The site was Castle Crest Wildflower Garden.

The bridge replacement consisted of removing a foot bridge that had been constructed of creosote impregnated timbers which are no longer used in the park. The new stringers were from trees occurring naturally within the park. The decking was Port Orford Cedar which had been salvaged from the old amphitheater seating by the able NPS trail crew. Using old photos as a guide, the new bridge adhered closely to the historic design of the original CCC structure.

Trail enhancement work involved trimming encroaching vegetation, installing and maintaining water bars, building wet crossings with rocks packed in with much labor and replacing eroded trail bed material.

As expected, our campout at Lost Creek Campground was enjoyed by all.

A note on the NPS Trail Crew: "I found them to be polite and informed interpreters. (a serendipity for park visitors happening on their work sites) displaying a high degree of safety consciousness and sensitivity for the resource and environment in which they work."

Welcome Aboard -- Donald E. Rome -- New Board Member

I first came across Crater Lake National Park in September of 1993, while touring the national parks, national forests, and sights of Washington and Oregon. During my stop at Crater Lake, I enjoyed several hikes across glaciers around the caldera. Coming from Boston, this was a completely new experience. It served as the perfect antidote to the long driving distances, so characteristic of the west and heretofore so foreign to me. I visited that area of the Pinnacles, those strange natural structures resembling some sort of geological obelisks, and was thrilled. The lake itself, with its striking clarity of blue, left me enthralled. It was, as I commented to friends later on, an experience bordering on the spiritual. While snacking at the rim, I picked up a copy of the park newsletter, which announced the formation of a Friends group for Crater Lake. I resolved to join the group and have been proud to be associated with the group since then. I am honored to serve as a member of the board and thank you for your support.

(N.B. After living and working in New York City for 7-1/2 years, I recently joined Retek Information Systems in Minneapolis as a Pre-Sales Consultant in their Grocery/Drug Store vertical market. This reduces the travel time to Crater Lake by at least half a day, making more frequent visits to the area possible.)

Centennial Plans For 2002

There's no doubt about it. The Centennial of Crater Lake National Park in 2002 will be the great event in the park's history. Media coverage of Oregon's only national park will be unprecedented in scope. It is possible that park visitation may reach record levels because of high public interest.

The Centennial, then, is both an opportunity and a responsibility. Whatever the Friends do for the centennial must mesh with good park management and enable the park to meet its primary responsibilities of protecting park visitors and park resources. Toward this end, the Friends and park staff have drafted a five year plan, which will surely evolve as new opportunities appear. However, many exciting projects will require years to plan, and talks with various interest groups have started. These include an art show with a major museum, a theatrical portrayal of William Gladstone Steel, the Father of the park, a photo-history book on the park, and a major television program on the events surrounding the creation of the park.

As the Centennial approaches, you can expect regional and national media coverage in newspapers, television, radio, and yes, on the Internet. The Centennial year itself will be a year-long celebration and cerebration of one of the very important events in American conservation history. Financial support for some projects will be essential, and look to you as well as non-traditional sources. Are we excited? You bet!

Holiday Wishes From the President by Greg Reddell I wish all the Friends a Happy Holiday Season and hope everyone has a wonderful winter season. The board of the Friends will be working to arrange some regional seminars and other events. Watch for future mailings and events announcements in newsletters. I expect to have a very busy winter, with lots of Friends work to do. As in other years, I am participating in the Klamath Fall Symphony...where rehearsals are getting serious for our next concert Saturday, November 21. If any Friends attend the concert, you will find me behind the tuba in the back row.