ERIC ED476001: Currents and Undercurrents: An Administrative History of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

590 Pages·17.1 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 476 001
SO 034 781
AUTHOR
McKay, Kathryn L.; Renk, Nancy F.
Currents and Undercurrents: An Administrative History of Lake
TITLE
Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
INSTITUTION
National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC.
PUB DATE
2002-01-00
NOTE
589p.
AVAILABLE FROM
Lake Roosevelt Recreation Area, 1008 Crest Drive, Coulee Dam,
WA 99116. Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Web site:
http://www.nps.gov/ laro/adhi/adhi.htm.
PUB TYPE
Books (010)
Historical Materials (060)
Reports
Descriptive (141)
EDRS PRICE
EDRS Price MF03/PC24 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS ---
*Government Role; Higher Education; *Land Use; *Parks;
Physical Geography; *Recreational Facilities; Rivers; Social
Studies; United States History
IDENTIFIERS
Cultural Resources; Management Practices; National Park
Service; Reservoirs
ABSTRACT
The 1,259-mile Columbia River flows out of Canada and
across
eastern Washington state, forming the border between Washington and
Oregon.
In 1941 the federal government dammed the Columbia River at the north end
of
Grand Coulee, creating a man-made reservoir named Lake Roosevelt that
inundated homes, farms, and businesses, and disrupted the lives of
many.
Although Congress never enacted specific authorization to create
a park, it
passed generic legislation that gave the Park Service authority
at the
National Recreation Area (NRA). Lake Roosevelt's shoreline totals
more than
500 miles of cliffs and gentle slopes. The Lake Roosevelt National
Recreation
Area (LARO) was officially created in 1946. This historical study documents
the long and complex story of the establishment of LARO and how it has
been
managed since its creation. Following informational materials and
an
introduction, the study's chapters are:
"When Rivers Ran Free";
"The
(1)
(2)
River Becomes a Lake";
"A Long Road Lies Ahead: Establishing Lake
(3)
Roosevelt National Recreation Area";
(4) "Agreements and Disagreements: From
Tri-Party Agreement to Multi-Party Agreement";
"Family Vacation Lake:
(6)
Recreation Planning and Management";
"Building and Maintaining the Park:
(7)
Administrative and Visitor Facilities";
(8) "Changing Stories:
Interpretation";
"From Simple to Complex: Cultural Resources Management";
(9)
(10) "An Uphill Struggle: Natural Resources Management";
(11) "Regaining
Ground: Leases and Special Use Permits"; and (12) "Echoes of the
Past: Future
Issues." Includes seven appendices and an extensive bibliography.
(BT)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
Currents and Undercurrents:
An Administrative History of
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
*Mt
Kathryn L. McKay
and
Nancy F. Renk
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
y This document has been reproduced as
January 2002
received from the person or organization
originating it.
Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy.
C._
Currents and Undercurrents:
An Administrative History of
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Washington
January 2002
by
Kathryn L. McKay
and
Nancy F. Renk
3
Cover photo: LARO ranger and Park Service boat near northern end of Lake Roosevelt, ca. 1972.
Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area ("A Boater's Guide
to Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake," draft ca. 1972, file K3819 Lake Roos. Boater's Guide, LARO.HQ.CIO).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
vii
Abbreviations Used in Text
xi
Abbreviations Used in Endnotes
xiii
Introduction
1
Chapter 1
When Rivers Ran Free
9
Chapter 2
The River Becomes a Lake
27
Chapter 3
A Long Road Lies Ahead: Establishing Lake Roosevelt
National Recreation Area
47
Chapter 4
Agreements and Disagreements: From Tri-Party Agreement
to Multi-Party Agreement
83
Chapter 5
Charting the Course: Managers and Management Issues
129
Chapter 6
Family Vacation Lake: Recreation Planning and Management
189
Chapter 7
Building and Maintaining the Park:
Administrative and Visitor Facilities
245
Chapter 8
Changing Stories: Interpretation
305
Chapter 9
From Simple to Complex: Cultural Resources Management
359
Chapter 10
An Uphill Struggle: Natural Resources Management
409
iii
5
Chapter 11
Regaining Ground: Leases and Special Use Permits
445
Chapter 12
Echoes of the Past: Future Issues
489
Appendix A
LARO Superintendents
493
Appendix B
An act for the acquisition of Indian lands for the Grand Coulee Dam
and Reservoir, and for other purposes (Act of June 29, 1940)
495
Appendix C
Memorandum of Agreement Among the Bureau of Reclamation,
National Park Service, and Office of Indian Affairs Relating to the
Planning, Development, and Administration of the Coulee Dam
Recreational Area (December 18, 1946)
499
Appendix D
Public Land Order 2087 (May 9, 1960)
509
Appendix E
Lake Roosevelt Cooperative Management Agreement (April 5, 1990)
511
Appendix F
Edward G. Torrison and Marlene J. Torrison, Husband and Wife,
Plaintiffs, v. Vaughn L. Baker, et al., Defendants (September 27, 2000)
527
Appendix G
Visitor Statistics
541
Annotated Bibliography
543
Index
579
6
iv
United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
1008 Crest Drive
Coulee Dam, Washington 99116
IN REPLY REFER TO:
FOREWORD
This administrative history is one of a series being done throughout the National Park
It adds to our knowledge and understanding of Lake Roosevelt National
System.
Recreation Area and how it came to be.
The study chronicles the establishment of the recreation area from its roots in the Grand
Coulee Dam project to the present. It traces how the area has been managed and operated
It also portrays various issues that have been
over time by the National Park Service.
associated with the recreation area since its establishment in 1946.
While administrative histories are of interest to a wide range of individuals, they are
particularly useful for Park Service staff to help them better understand why the area
looks and operates the way it does due to decisions made and policies implemented over
It provides a context for making management decisions
the years by their predecessors.
on issues, some of which have been present for decades.
This document was prepared for the National Park Service under contract with Tracks of
the Past and Flume Creek Historical Services, consulting firms based in Columbia Falls,
The primary authors are Kathryn L.
Montana, and Sandpoint, Idaho, respectively.
McKay and Nancy F. Renk. Through the use of outside parties to produce these studies,
the National Park Service hopes to provide an independent review of the events and
circumstances that have shaped this unit of the National Park System. As such, the views
expressed are those of the authors based on their research and contacts with numerous
individuals having knowledge about various aspects of the National Recreation Area.
This history of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a "living" one. As additional
information comes to light about the events described in this document and as subsequent
events occur relevant to the unit's administration, revisions of this document will be
made as appropriate.
Vaughn L. Baker
Superintendent
Preface
Many, many people helped us with this project. First and foremost, we would like to
thank the current and recent employees of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. We
understand why the park has a reputation for friendly staff and a good work environment!
Those who were particularly helpful included Vaughn Baker, Sherry Dotson, Dan Hand,
Lynne Brougher, Roberta Miller, Ray Dashiell, Linda Morgan, Dan Mason, Scott
Hebner, Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Marty Huseman, Ray DePuydt, and Gina Arnold. Past
employees and their spouses who agreed to interviews included Gerry Tays, Dan Brown,
Don and Connie Everts, Bill and Doris Schieber, Gary Kuiper, Tom Teaford, and Sis
Robinson. We greatly enjoyed talking with and learning from each of these people. We
also appreciate their useful comments on drafts of this report and their patience with
follow-up inquiries.
Librarians, archivists, and museum employees throughout the Pacific Northwest provided
tremendous assistance to us as we searched for documents and other materials related to
the history of the Lake Roosevelt area and the National Park Service. These include: Pat
Witham of the Grant County Historical Museum; Tim Brooks and Cheryl Grunlose of the
Colville Tribal Museum; Gary Schmauder of Lincoln County Historical Museum; the
National Archives branches in San Bruno, California (and we'd like also like to thank our
research assistant Marcia Plancon for the many linear feet of photocopies she sent us
from San Bruno); Joyce Justice at the National Archives branch at Seattle, Washington;
Frank Sciamanda of Washington State University's Holland Library, Manuscripts,
Archives, and Special Collections; Washington State Archives in Tacoma; Gary Lundell
at University of Washington, Manuscripts and University Archives; Bonneville Power
Administration Library in Portland, Oregon; David Hastings at the Washington State
Archives in Olympia; Grant County Archives in Ephrata; Grand Coulee Library in Grand
Coulee; Flathead County Library in Kalispell, Montana; Washington State Archives,
Central Regional Branch, Ellensburg; Nancy Compau at the Northwest Room, Spokane
Public Library; Shirley Dodson at the Stevens County Historical Society; Karen Deseve
of the Eastern Washington State Historical Society Research Library and Archives; Jeff
Creighton of the Washington State Archives, Eastern Regional Branch; Rodney Cawston,
Aletha Heath, and Jayleen Palmer of the Colville Confederated Tribes Archives in
Nespelem; and Bryon Flett, archivist for the Spokane Tribe of Indians in Wellpinit.
We would particularly like to thank our technical contact, Gretchen Luxenberg of the
Columbia Cascades Support Office, for her cheerful and knowledgeable assistance with
all aspects of the project. Former Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area employees
who revised drafts of this report included Kelly Cash, Art Hathaway, Gary Kuiper, and
Gerry Tays. We also benefited greatly from the review comments of people who
currently work at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. We would like to give
special thanks to the National Park Service reviewers not at Lake Roosevelt, including
Cathy Gilbert, David Louter, Janet McDonnell, Stephanie Toothman, Bill Walters, and
Fred York.
vii
0
At the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation office in Grand Coulee, the following people
provided easy access to documents and photographs and answered questions: librarian
Marjoe Richards, Jack Scoles and Judy Quill in the photograph archives, and Public
Information Officer Craig Sprankle. In addition, Regional Archaeologist Lynne
MacDonald in Boise gave freely of her time to discuss cultural resource management
issues at Lake Roosevelt.
We appreciate the willingness of the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Spokane Tribe
of Indians to cooperate with our research at their tribal archives. We regret, however,
that the documents we requested have not been located to date. We did find in other
repositories copies of many important documents prepared by the tribes, and these helped
greatly in understanding their concerns in relation to the management of Lake Roosevelt.
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area staff submitted draft copies of this report to the
Colville Confederated Tribes and the Spokane Tribe of Indians but received no comments
or corrections.
Both authors of this report live on tributaries to the Columbia River: Kathy on the
Flathead River in northwestern Montana and Nancy along the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille
system in northern Idaho. When we began this project, we spent one day late in the fall
of 1998 driving around Lake Roosevelt. We watched the landscape change from arid
lands near the dam to forests at the upper end of the lake and then back to arid as we
returned to Coulee Dam. Despite the changes in the landscape, one force tied it all
together: the Columbia River flowing slowly through the land as it flows through our
lives. The story we uncovered during the course of this project is one of high hopes,
grand plans, insufficient funding, conflict, challenges, mistakes, and successes. Many
players have been involved in creating and operating the national recreation area, making
its history rich and complex. We hope you enjoy exploring the story, as much as we have.
Kathryn L. McKay
Nancy F. Renk
Tracks of the Past
Flume Creek Historical Services
Columbia Falls, Montana
Sandpoint, Idaho
January 2002
9
viii
Note: The unit of the National Park System discussed in this report was known as the
Coulee Dam National Recreation Area (CODA) from the 1940s until 1997, when its
name was changed to the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (LARO). The
current name, LARO, is used throughout this report except in direct quotes or citations,
regardless of the year in which the event or activity occurred.
ix
0
a.