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It was a challenging summer at Crater Lake Spruce Lake fire devours red cone in the Crater Lake National Park this summer. [Photo by Dave Grimes, Crater Lake ranger] Wednesday Nov 15, 2017 at 2:24 PM Nov 15, 2017 at 2:24 PM By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK — Forest fires threatened to damage buildings and clouded views of the lake. Seemingly never-ending, still uncompleted road construction projects snarled traffic. A boat dock bulkhead was crumbling, and drinking water had to be trucked in. It was a challenging summer at Crater Lake National Park. Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman and Chief of Interpretation Marsha McCabe outlined some of the issues that affected staff and visitors. Despite a series of disruptions, the park was on its way to another potentially record-setting visitor year, but a series of forest fires in and just outside the park reversed that trend in September. This year the September visitor totals were 84,340, down from 131,760 a summer earlier. Still, according to Ackerman, as of Nov. 1 the park had more than 702,000 visitors. “This is the new norm,” Ackerman predicts of high visitation numbers. Until recent years, the park had averaged under 500,000 a year, most during July through September. After a series of drought years, heavy snowfall returned during the 2016-17 winter, which delayed road openings and the resumption of what was supposed to be the third and final year of road work. Among key issues: Water concerns When the Klamath Tribes issued a call for water rights last spring, park officials were forced to have water trucked into the park during May and June. The park’s water supply is from Annie Creek, a tributary of Upper Klamath Lake. Cost of transporting the water from the city of Chiloquin and having it treated was about $500,000. Because of concerns that began in 2013, the park had drilled a well near the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead and Highway 62. A temporary pipeline from the well to the holding tanks was set in place until melting snow allowed construction of an underground line to the treatment station. The project is in its final stages of completion. Ackerman said despite the problems, park officials developed a strong working relationship with the Tribes. “This is a super success story of everybody working together.” Road/parking lot construction Ongoing road construction, including enlarging the Cleetwood Cove parking lot, was supposed to be completed during the summer but was not. As part of efforts to allow crews to catch up on backlogs, the West Rim Drive between the North Entrance and Rim Village was closed at various times, causing often severe vehicle backlogs. Ackerman said the project is more than 100 days behind schedule. Visitor Center Plans to build a true visitor center — Crater Lake has never had a designated visitor center — have again been delayed. The park received NPS funds to help pay for a facility, but the money was designated to rehabilitate the existing 1920s-era Rim Village gift shop-cafeteria. The park wants to demolish that facility, which Ackerman said is structurally unsound, and build an entirely new 11,000-square-foot building that would cost an estimated $9 million to $11 million. Designs for a new building call for a two-story structure with a basement. As designed, it would have a multipurpose room for films, school groups and changing exhibits in the basement, an information desk, sales area and exhibits on the first floor, and a lake-viewing area and larger exhibits on the second floor. Along with more than $5 million in projected NPS funding and a loan from the park's future fee concessions funding, it’s hoped the Crater Lake Trust can raise about $3 million. Cleetwood Cove boat dock A boat dock-bulkhead at Cleetwood Cove, the only place with access to the lake, will have to be replaced. Built at a cost of about $1.5 million with a projected 75-year lifespan, the bulkhead's concrete block exterior shifted during winter storms shortly after it was built and, following last year’s heavy winter that raised the lake’s water level, was unusable. A geotechnical firm will recommend plans for a new bulkhead dock and "entire lake front" for improving the 1.1-mile Cleetwood Cove, which is regarded as an area of high hazard. "We will propose a project to make the trail as safe as possible," Ackerman said. "It is a trail on the inside of the caldera. There will always be some risks and hazards." Forest fires Two forest fires that started just outside the park in late July — Spruce Lake fire and Blanket Creek fire — caused road closures and the evacuation of Rim Village, park headquarters and Annie Springs facilities. Heavy smoke often obliterated views of the lake and caused the cancellation of boat tours and likely discouraged park visitors. The blazes burned 25,000 to 30,000 acres in the park and far greater acreages on neighboring Forest Service lands. “We have no ‘let-burn’ policy,” Ackerman emphasized. "We fought these fires with full-suppression strategy and tactics from the moment they were discovered." Concession contract The park’s current concession contract with Xanterra, which manages Crater Lake, the Rim Village cafeteria-gift shop, Annie Springs facilities and lake boat tours, expires in 2018. Thirty representatives from seven potential concession applicants, including Xanterra, toured both Crater Lake and Oregon Caves National Monument during the summer, but it is unknown how many plan to submit bids, which are due Nov. 21. As part of a new contract, new boats will be required for ranger-guided lake boat tours. A panel that does not include staff from the two parks will review the bids in December and make recommendations. In a change from previous years, the concessionaire will be responsible for both parks. Oregon Caves received no response to its last prospectus. Trail Management Plan Comments are due this month on a proposed Trail Management Plan, which will guide trail developments, and some closures of low-use trails, over the next 25 years. A high priority trail for Ackerman is a Ponderosa Trail near the park’s south boundary. Along with traveling through scenic “yellow pines,” he believes the trail would benefit hikers during periods when rim area trails are still snow-covered. A proposed Munson Valley Trail would be open for a variety of users and offer “some of the most spectacular scenery in the park.” Ackerman said a diversity of trails is wanted because, “We need to look at ways to disperse visitors” away from heavily used Rim Village and provide reasons to encourage visitors to extend their stays. New programs launched It wasn’t all bad news at Crater Lake last summer. McCabe noted a guided hike program to a bird-banding station, a cooperative project with the Klamath Bird Observatory, was launched. The park also hosted participants in the Klamath Network Teacher Workshop, where teachers had in-depth visits to Crater Lake and five other National Park Service units in the “Circle of Discovery” that includes Lava Beds National Monument, Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve, Redwoods National Park, Lassen National Park and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. In addition, country singer Dierks Bentley visited the park as part of an upcoming Parks 101 360 Degrees video. Smoke concerns impacted the annual Ride the Rims bicycle-hiking event and Crater Lake Marathon-Rim Runs. On two Saturdays in September, the Ride the Rim drew 1,500 participants, down from 6,000 last year, because of concerns about smoke from forest fires. Smoke concerns also reduced the number of participants in the annual Crater Lake Marathon-Rim Runs in August. — Reach freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected] or 541-880-4139.