Crater Lake is the only national park in Oregon. Its breathtaking sights draw hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
While National Park Service rangers take care of the park and its natural resources, a private company 鈥� called a concessionaire 鈥� runs the restaurants, gift shops, hotels, campgrounds and boat tours.
This year, that company is ExplorUS. They also manage other national and state properties across the country, but it鈥檚 their first year managing Crater Lake. Another company, Aramark, ran the park until early this year.
鈥淭his was an unusual transition between Aramark and ourselves, because it was a very short one,鈥� said William Boas, vice president of operations at ExplorUS.
The National Park Service terminated Aramark鈥檚 contract in February over consistent failures to meet park service standards.
According to , Aramark faced a number of food safety violations, poor employee housing conditions and a major diesel fuel spill.
After taking over the contract in late March, Boas said ExplorUS had just a few weeks to prepare before park facilities opened in mid-May.
鈥淵ou have to remember too that at that time, we had 11 employees on site,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we grew that staff from 11 employees to 200 employees in the course of about three and a half weeks.鈥�
Supplies, schedules and sick leave
One of those new employees was Jordyn Evans, a camp host at the Mazama Campground. This was the first year that Crater Lake had camp hosts, who clean up facilities and campsites, deal with camper complaints and act as a welcoming face for visitors. Evans said he was hired quickly after applying.
鈥淸The interviewer] kind of warned me during the interview that it was going to be a little bit chaotic, because it's their first year having this park on contract,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I wasn't quite expecting it to be as chaotic as it is.鈥�
Evans said that it was unclear to camp hosts when their first day working for ExplorUS was.
鈥淚 couldn't get the HR to answer my question straight. I would compare it to text messaging some teenage boy. You send them three questions, and they answer one,鈥� he said.
Another issue Evans said staff faced was getting supplies.
鈥淲e only recently started getting supplies for us to stock our bathrooms with consistently this month鈥� he said. 鈥淥therwise, we've had to beg for supplies. We've had to try and juggle supplies around to make sure everybody has toilet paper.鈥�
Evans said staff also had to buy their own cleaning supplies, alongside issues with out-of-order showers and washing machines.
Communication with HR was difficult for staff elsewhere as well, according to Emanuel Killian, who works overnight at the Crater Lake Lodge. He said there are ongoing issues with staff benefits like sick leave and scheduling.
鈥淓verything seemed okay, but once everything started and opened, everything else, employee wise, kind of got last priority,鈥� Killian said.
He said other staff haven鈥檛 been getting their sick leave or schedule as required by state law. Hospitality, retail and food service workers in Oregon to receive their schedules at least two weeks in advance, or they鈥檙e owed a penalty payment from their employer.
鈥淚f [employees] don't speak up, or if they don't know, on a case by case basis, they're not getting their due rights, and they're unaware of it,鈥� Killian said.
"We've had to try and juggle supplies around to make sure everybody has toilet paper.鈥�
He said the fact that a lot of young employees come to work at Crater Lake from other countries could contribute to their lack of knowledge of local labor laws. He said he鈥檚 brought this issue up with HR multiple times, but never saw the issues fixed across the board.
William Boas from ExplorUS said he doesn鈥檛 know of any issues with sick leave or people having to buy their own supplies. He said he鈥檚 visited the property around nine times since March and has never seen a shortage of supplies, but said it could have been a miscommunication between staff and the warehouse. However, Boas said there have been some hiccups with staff scheduling that he said he鈥檚 worked to address.
鈥淭he problem was, we had a little bit of a transition period where schedules were being created in an Excel form, and that was what was being posted,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then they were trying to get back and put it within our payroll system. And that wasn't happening.鈥�
Making lemonade out of a lemon
The National Park Service declined to be interviewed. But in a statement, the park鈥檚 deputy superintendent, Sean Denniston, said, 鈥淲e appreciate their commitment to significant investments in facilities, staff training, visitor services, and other areas over the next few years to improve conditions for their employees and guests. ExplorUS has been responsive to our and guests' feedback and has demonstrated a commitment to providing quality visitor services.鈥�
Camp Host Jordyn Evans said he won鈥檛 be returning to Crater Lake after this summer鈥檚 experience. But others are more optimistic about ExplorUS鈥� ability to turn things around, like Belinda Crompton, another camp host.
鈥淭here's still some problems here, and they're working on them,鈥� she said. 鈥淣othing's going to get fixed in a heartbeat. But it's slow.鈥�
She said the visitor reviews online have been so much better this year than they were in the past. Realistically, Crompton said ExplorUS has done a pretty good job.
鈥淭hey were handed an absolute lemon,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey're figuring out how to make lemonade. They're not there. They'll get there.鈥�
Crompton said she hasn鈥檛 decided yet if she wants to return to work at Crater Lake next year.
Renovations to come
William Boas from ExplorUS said as the season winds down, their focus turns to building renovations that were originally promised by Aramark, but never completed. Boas said they have a very small window between when staff are gone and snow starts to get in the way of construction.
鈥淲e operate Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine that has a similar kind of window of operations, and so it's not unique to this park,鈥� Boas said. 鈥淲e leverage the experience that we have working in those environments to help us develop plans for here.鈥�
One of the major renovations planned is for one of the two employee dormitories, called the Rim Dorm. The conditions were described as 鈥榙isgusting鈥� last year by a former employee.
Boas said before the staff moved in this spring, ExplorUS did what they could to make the employee housing more comfortable.
鈥淲e made an extra effort to go in there and completely paint the interior of the building, to do a deep cleaning on all the carpets and all the facilities, the restroom facilities and kitchen area in there, so that people really understood that we wanted them to have good lodging conditions as employees,鈥� he said.
Killian, who lived in the Rim Dorm, said there are still some rodent issues, as well as problems with the laundry facilities. But he did notice the new equipment and the deep cleaning that ExploreUS did.
Boas said most people may only visit a national park once in their lives, so making sure they have a positive experience is important. A review of this year鈥檚 operations by the National Park Service is expected in April.
鈥淲e don't expect to be perfect, but we do want to be as good as we can be every day, and we preach that to our folks,鈥� Boas said. 鈥淲e try and make sure it's a great environment.鈥�
