Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 5:
ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION

OVERVIEW OF CRATERS OF THE MOON'S ADMINISTRATION

The evolution of Craters of the Moon National Monument's administration has essentially paralleled the systemwide trends within the National Park Service. Relatively small and isolated, the monument existed on the fringe of the System like so many monuments of its time. During its early years, its protection and development were characterized by the second-class status assigned to monuments during the Service's first several decades. Initially funding and staffing were minimal. Budget appropriations went to other, more well-established sites, and caretakers from local communities worked primarily as seasonal volunteers.

In the 1930s, the monument's administration benefited from the completion of some critical improvements carried out, for the most part, through New Deal emergency relief programs. Then, as with other park units, the war years of the 1940s curtailed maintenance and development projects. Visitation rose dramatically in the postwar years. Nationally, the monument was more accessible through highway improvements. And locally, the 1950s and the Cold War brought unprecedented economic and population growth to the region around the monument. [8] National and local trends thus prompted the monument's development strategies to be reassessed. Resource protection and visitor enjoyment required construction of better facilities, roads, trails, and the addition of more rangers. Shortly afterward, Mission 66 inaugurated an entirely new phase in monument administration, correcting past and present management deficiencies, making it possibly the most significant phase in the area's history.

Today, the administration of Craters of the Moon has built upon a long history of managers attempting to fulfill the monument's mission, using the resources at hand. Redevelopment through Mission 66 allowed Craters to the Moon to create a more cohesive administration; it provided the skeletal infrastructure for physical and personnel improvements. Since that period, the scientific and educational goals of the monument's purpose have received greater attention and achieved greater success, with resource management surging to the forefront.