Page 45 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2020

Q – WHAT DOES CRATER LAKE CONTRIBUTE TO THE ECONOMY OF SOUTHERN OREGON?
CRAIG – The last couple of years it’s estimated to have contributed between $60 - 80 million
a year to the region’s economy through direct and indirect spending.

Q – YOU’VE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH VEHICLE-FREE DAYS. WHAT DO
PEOPLE DO AT THE PARK ON THOSE DAYS?

CRAIG – I think it’s one of the best things we’ve done in the last ten years. The two vehicle-
free days generate more than a million-and-a-half dollars in Klamath County alone. The entire
Park is not vehicle-free, we restrict a 25-mile section of East Rim Drive to nonmotorized vehi-
cles. People can hike, ride a bicycle or run. We’ve had unicycles and quadricycles. There is a Your self-care
group of kids from Bend who do the entire section on roller skis. We’ve grown the event to over
6,000 participants. Parents and their children can bike without worrying about motorhomes or checklist.
cars. People have told me, “Without this opportunity, we would never have been able to bicycle
at the lake.” It’s been a very successful partnership with Discover Klamath, Friends of Crater Breathe. Take a walk. Sleep in.
Lake, and Crater Lake National Park. Schedule your mammogram.

Q – YOU HAVE SISTER PARKS IN CHINA AND IN SLOVENIA. WHAT IS A SISTER PARK?
CRAIG – The state of Oregon has a partnership with the province of Fujian in southeast China.
In 2010, Fujian province officials learned about the “sister park” program. After considering Call to schedule your
several parks, they decided that Wuyishan Park would a good match with Crater Lake. Not nec- 3-D mammogram today.
essarily geographically or features-wise, but because it was the national park most prominent
in their province, as Crater Lake is the most prominent in Oregon. Dennis Richardson, the Medford
late Secretary of State, jumped on the concept, and we visited Wuyishan in 2013. The park gets Asante Imaging Murphy
about 9 million visitors a year. The population of Fujian Province is almost 45 million people,
a “little” bigger than Oregon! Even the “little village” next to the park was “very, very small, (541) 789-6150
only 300,000.” In 2016, after much effort, we agreed on a Sister Park International Agreement. Ashland
A delegation traveled to Wuyishan Park for an elaborate ceremony to sign the agreement. The
Fujian province officials have visited Crater Lake. We expect more Chinese tourists and manage- Asante Women’s Imaging
ment team visits in coming years. (541) 201-4380

The U.S. embassy in Slovenia heard about our sister park agreement with Wuyishan. The U.S. Grants Pass
ambassador, Brent Hartley, grew up in Medford. They wanted to know if we would be inter- Asante Women’s Imaging
ested in sistering with a park in Slovenia. I wasn’t sure about the geography of Slovenia and (541) 955-5446
whether it would be a good match for Crater Lake until Ambassador Hartley sent some photo-
graphs. The first photo he sent was a beautiful mountain lake and an island with a church on it,
the Alps in the background. I wrote back immediately and said, “I think we can do this.” Triglav Women in good health
(Tree-glau) National Park is the only national park in Slovenia. It’s right out of “The Sound and age 40 or older
of Music”—beautiful vistas, snowcapped mountains, pristine mountain lakes, and wonderful
people, but like China, the government itself only owns about 25% of the park, different from should have a yearly
American national parks. The rest is privately owned by individuals or the Catholic Church. It is mammogram screening.
a cooperative venture to manage their park, to maintain not only the natural resources, but the Treatment for breast
cultural heritage, the farming, the cowbells, the traditional ways of making hay and cheese. In
2017, we signed an agreement with Triglav, and it has taken off very well. cancer is most effective
when caught early.

No insurance? Mammogram
Q – HAVE FIRES AND FUEL BUILDUP IMPACTED CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK?
vouchers available.
CRAIG – In 2017, we had two fires that were bigger than any in the park’s modern history.
Over 60,000 acres burned. That’s one-third of the park. We’ve suppressed fires so we have 125
years of fuel buildup. In order to keep the park from burning completely, we’re going to be
conducting more prescribed fire and fuels management activities. The climate is changing, and
our management has to change with that. 19AI013.SOM

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