Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 7:
RECREATION MANAGEMENT

OVERVIEW

In his 1918 letter instructing National Park Service Director Stephen T. Mather on how parks should be managed, Interior Secretary Franklin Lane wrote that "Every opportunity should be afforded to the public, wherever possible, to enjoy the national parks in the manner that best satisfies individual tastes." This philosophy enabled Mather to encourage mass use of national parks and in doing so win wide support, yet at the same time it forced the Park Service to address the dilemma inherent in its mission--how to reconcile the "agency's role as the preserver of the great scenic places with its role as a provider of recreation opportunities to much of the American public." In short, preservationists worried that high tourism would diminish the wilderness values of parks, while tourist groups sometimes protested the lack of adequate facilities and, by association, lack of recreational opportunities in national parks. Attempting to please both sides, the Park Service steered a middle course. [1]

At Craters of the Moon, recreation management has attempted to do the same by allowing visitor activities that are compatible with the monument's founding purpose. Overall, management embraces outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, picnicking, skiing, biking, and cave exploration. Most of this takes place within the monument's developed section; however, Craters also offers primitive recreation in its expansive wilderness and backcountry areas. While recreation rarely elicits management conflict, visitor use of any sort within the monument, as detailed in other sections, requires mitigation policies. Likewise, external recreational developments--potentially adjacent to and beyond the control of Craters of the Moon--demand equal attention for their possible interference with the visitor's experience and resource qualities.

Given the monument's volcanic terrain, desert environment, and small area of development, most visitor recreation has been concentrated around the loop drive and the features located along it. The monument's landscape lends itself well to daytime activities, the predominant use, for the most scenic sites and formations are easily seen within several hours by car. Without the popularity of the automobile and the advent of modern highways, it is unlikely that tourists of any time period could have visited or enjoyed Craters of the Moon on a large scale. This is not to say that all were alike. Tourists during the monument's first decades were required to be more adventurous than their later counterparts; to see some of the natural phenomena, they had to hike into the interior, later accessible by extensions to the loop drive. Except for the intrepid Robert Limbert and other explorers and scientists like him, the majority of visitors toured the monument along the primitive loop drive, and picnicked, camped, or, beginning in the 1930s, spent the night in the Craters of the Moon Inn. Sightseeing was the most popular activity, as visitors circulated among the outstanding natural features, engaging in small excursions and drinking in the vistas.