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NATIONAL PARK Crater Lake plans to build visitor center Comment By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2016 at 4:20 PM By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2016 at 4:20 PM --> Busy year planned at Crater Lake It promises to be a busy year at Crater Lake National Park as it offers regular summer programs and special offerings to celebrate the National Park Se... » Read more X Busy year planned at Crater Lake It promises to be a busy year at Crater Lake National Park as it offers regular summer programs and special offerings to celebrate the National Park Service's Centennial. Chief Interpretive Ranger Marsha McCabe and Superintendent Craig Ackerman said the park, which will celebrate its 114th year as a national park May 22, will focus activities in July and August. Areas of the park, including sections of 33-mile-long Rim Drive, are often not clear of snow until late June or early July. Two artists, including Talent photographer Matt Witt, will begin a two-week artists-in-residence program later this month, while a second set of artists-in-residences, Dan Rickards and the twosome of Katrina Hays and Steven McBurnett of Bend, are scheduled in September. A Crater Lake park visit by officials from China, who recently signed a Sister Park agreement with Crater Lake, will be this summer at a to-be determined date. Ackerman said the delay will allow officials with the Mount Wuyi World Heritage and Cultural Site to see the park in full operation. July activities will begin with a naturalization ceremony in Rim Village July 4, an event Ackerman calls "one of the most moving events I've seen." An Art on the Rim program featuring the park's artists-in-residence past and present will be held July 9 and 10. A Beetle Bio-Blitz and teacher workshop, for college students and citizen scientists, is planned for July 23. The Britt Orchestra will perform the world premiere July 29 and 30 of a musical composition inspired by Crater Lake and composed by Michael Gordon. August events include the annual Crater Lake Rim Runs-Marathon Aug. 13, a centennial film festival, Southern Oregon Historical Society program, to-be announced special centennial programs in and outside the park, and a Crater Lake Paint Out Aug. 27 with artists doing paintings of park locations on a timed basis. An event that drew more than 4,000 bicyclists, walkers and runners last year, Ride the Rim, will be offered on two Saturdays, Sept. 17 and 24. Twenty-four miles of Rim Drive will be closed to motorized vehicles between the north entrance junction and park headquarters. "Of all the things we have done at the park, this is one of the most exciting," Ackerman said, noting it attracts "people of all age, shapes and sizes." There will be no park admission Sept. 24, National Public Lands Day. Park entrance fees will remain $15 per vehicle this year and in 2017, when ongoing road construction projects are expected to be completed, and increase to $20 in 2018. Park officials have been directed to increase fees as part of a nationwide fee hike program. The Crater Lake entrance fee will eventually be upped to $25 at an undetermined date. » Social News One of the nation's oldest national parks may finally get a genuine visitor center. Crater Lake National Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman said Crater Lake, the nation's fifth-oldest national park, has received funding to do pre-planning this year and planning and design work in 2017 so that construction could begin in 2018 on a visitor orientation and education center. He hopes construction can be done in two years. The park has a small visitor contact station in Munson Valley and an information station at Rim Village during the summer months. Ackerman said the park has been allocated $4.9 million in National Park Service funds to build a visitor center in Rim Village's historic district near the present gift shop-cafeteria. Efforts to raise money for exhibits and displays will be coordinated through the Crater Lake Trust. At least 22 designs for a visitor center have been considered over the decades. A project manager from the National Park Service's Denver office is working with park and regional engineers to review the collected planning documents this year. A final architectural design for the visitor center is expected in 2017. Ackerman said the new visitor center, which would have modern interactive displays, would be open year round. He said exhibits would be modern and "interactive to every degree possible." "We're very excited to see one of the final pieces to the long-range planning process is coming together," he said of the new visitor center, noting Crater Lake is "one of the few iconic national parks without a dedicated visitor center. "This is a long overdue and needed facility for the park and our visitors." Ackerman said goals of the visitor center include orienting visitors "as to what they can do other than viewing the lake," such as hiking park trails. "We hope people will go to the orientation center, plan their day and then get out into the park." Information about neighboring attractions, such as Klamath Basin wildlife refuges and Umpqua Valley waterfalls, would also be provided. To help ease parking problems — parking spaces at the Rim Village typically fill up quickly during high visitation months in the summer — he said the park is considering adding parking at the Picnic Hill area, site of the former Rim Village Campground, between Crater Lake Lodge and the Rim Village gift shop-cafeteria. Under the tentative timetable, construction of the visitor center would start after the park completes extensive multi-year road-improvement projects. Because of heavy snowfall, the park's construction season at the park is often limited to the period from mid-July to late September or October. After several years of below normal snowfall, including a record low of 198 inches during the winter of 2014-15, the park has received more than 400 inches so far this season. The seasonal average is 528 inches. Ackerman said arrangements have been made to delay expansion of the Cleetwood Cove parking area, which provides parking for the only trail from the rim to the lake, until mid-August. It's hoped the concession boat tours offered by Xanterra, the park's concessionaire, will open about June 25. Under tentative plans, tours and use of Cleetwood trail won't resume until late summer. Work on the Cleetwood parking area began last fall. When completed, the popular, often-filled parking area will have additional spaces, including some specifically for RVs and large rigs, along with two permanent bathrooms and a ticket sales booth, all with wood and stone exteriors in keeping with other similar structures. Ackerman said park officials investigated providing shuttles from Rim Village to Cleetwood Cove but abandoned the idea after it was learned the cost would be about $500,000. Road projects this summer include finishing improvements to Rim Village parking areas and reconstruction of Rim Drive from Rim Village to the north entrance. To ease traffic congestion when the Britt Orchestra performs the world premiere of a Crater Lake music piece being written by New York's Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Gordon, Ackerman said, only the first performance July 28 will be at The Watchman parking area along Rim Drive. Before and during the performance, Rim Drive will be closed. Two other July 28 performances and three July 29 performances will be in the Rim Village area. The July 28 premiere will be by invitation only because of limited space at The Watchman. In addition, quartets and trios will provide music at Rim Drive overlooks between full orchestra performances. Lee Juillerat can be reached at [email protected] or 541-880-4139. By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2016 at 4:20 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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