Improvements – Malheur Field Station

Kitchenette Upgrades – 2019

Our Kitchenettes are named Owl East, Owl West and Pelican. All three units have Central Air and Heat.

RoseOctober 10, 2019November 21, 2019Leave a comment

Kitchenette Upgrades - 2019

Our Kitchenettes are named Owl East, Owl West and Pelican. All three units have Central Air and Heat. The Owls have 3 bedrooms each and can sleep six in each unit, with shared living, dining, kitchen and bath. Owl East and West are kept open year around and are available all winter.

Visitors can rent any of our kitchenettes exclusively. Pelican has six bedrooms and sleeps ten with shared living, dining, kitchen and bath. All units are fully furnished with cookware, dishes, silverware, stove, fridge, microwave, coffee pot and are centrally located near each other and Greasewood our Recreation/Social Hall as well as Malcolm Hall.

We’ve worked on the kitchenettes starting with plumbing issues underneath the buildings. Painting, carpeting, upgrading furniture, toilets and fixtures.

Here are photos concerning some of the work done through 2019.

Owl East

Repairing the steps

Living room before

Living room after full upgrade

Owl E bathtub before

Toilet before

After

Owl West

Upgrade in process

Living room after upgrade

After upgrade

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Pelican

Major toilet repair in process

Fully upgraded

the end

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Malcom Hall Upgrades

In July, 2017, thanks to grants from The Collins Foundation and the Oregon Community Foundation, new windows and siding were installed

RoseSeptember 9, 2019December 4, 2019Leave a comment

Malcom Hall Renovations 2017 - 2019

In July, 2017, thanks to grants from The Collins Foundation and the Oregon Community Foundation, new windows and siding were installed to improve the energy efficiency and aesthetics of our main office and classroom facility. That was just the beginning.

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The load of materials that started it all

Back of Malcom Hall with fresh paint

The main hallway before...

After paint, carpet and new lights

Looking the other way

The lab getting new lighting and ceiling repair

The lab done and ready to use

Entomology class using the lab

Locating water leak

Found and ready to repair

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Septic Problems – 2019

"Septic problems" is the dreaded phrase country folks least want to hear and we have had our fair share.

RoseSeptember 8, 2019November 21, 2019Leave a comment

Septic Problems - 2019

It was Peak Season and the septic system for the small trailers was not functioning. People were everywhere, nothing like a real-time test! We brought in two porta potties and had to shuffle people around in different units to keep the ‘flow’ going on station. Our guests were wonderful and patient!

This, of course, is not a new problem but an old one that has not been addressed and fixed until now. It took two men working many days to get it functional and still it has a small leak that we have to look at after the season for small trailers is over.

We will be ready for the 2020 season with Egret, Flicker and Grebe, and possibly Dipper, surely things will flow much more smoothly! 😊

Optimistic start with a snake - worth a try

Lots of digging and filling

Fixing collateral damage

Yuk.... !

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Maintenance Yard Cleanup

This project seems to be never ending; we started the cleanup in 2018 and it continues to this day. Getting rid of junk and garbage costs time and money

RoseSeptember 8, 2019November 21, 2019Leave a comment

Maintenance Yard Cleanup

This project seems to be never ending; we started the cleanup in 2018 and it continues to this day. Getting rid of junk and garbage costs time and money but is the responsible thing to do. Some of the stuff that was making it hard to even turn a vehicle around in the yard was the classic “I might make use of that someday” type things but most of it was just pure and simple rodent habitat.

One of two old FEMA trailers heading down the road

Another load on the way to the dump

Some unusable vehicles being hauled away

Another load on the way to the dump

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Luckily, we were able to sell some of needless things like two FEMA trailers and that trailer load of old vehicles–not for much but better than paying for their removal. There’s more to go and it will stay on our radar.

Laundry Room Building 2019

When we started in on this clean-up and improvement project the laundry room had been delegated as a storage area.

RoseJuly 7, 2019November 22, 2019Leave a comment

Laundry Room Cleanup

When we started in on this clean-up and improvement project the laundry room had been delegated as a storage area. As you can see by this before photo and the one below, a lot of “stuff” found its way into the laundry work space.

Some of the things belonged there like housekeeping supplies but much of the clutter belonged elsewhere or in the dump. The open space was so limited it was hard for two people to use it at the same time.

Here it is all cleaned up and organized with all the cleaning and housekeeping supplies necessary to maintain our whole facility. It is now much more useful but still needs commercial size washers and dryers to speed up the process.

Doug was pleased with the new ample work space he celebrated it with new paint job.

108 Screens Repaired

This Spring (2019) Stan, a retired electronics engineer from Washington state, volunteered to address the damaged screen problem on the entire Field Station.

RoseJune 23, 2019October 14, 2019Leave a comment

108 Screens Repaired

The next time you visit the field station and find yourself in a room devoid of mosquitoes or flies, thank Stan Tomich. This Spring (2019) Stan, a retired electronics engineer from Washington state, volunteered to address the damaged screen problem on the entire Field Station.

He removed all the damaged screens from all the major buildings and setup shop in the Greaswood building and proceeded to patiently replace the screening in each frame one at a time. When he got done the count was a whopping 108 screens ready to be reinstalled!

Mark Miller and David Hibbs from Corvallis who were also volunteering at the time–helping sort lots of recycling–stepped up to the plate and helped Stan with the massive reinstallation. Thank you Stan, Mark and David.

Dorm Upgrades – 2019

Our Dorms are an integral part of our educational programs having the ability to house up to 30 attendees each.

RoseMarch 23, 2019November 21, 2019Leave a comment

Dorm Upgrades

Our Dorms are an integral part of our educational programs having the ability to house up to 30 attendees each. They all needed serious attention and Doug and Rose and various volunteers tackled many of the problems in 2019 with some projects being finished just days before the guests arrived. We were so busy we forgot to take very many “before” pictures but many of our past guests know what we were up against. Here is a slide show of some of things we got done.

upgraded water heaters

Before plumbing was completely replaced

More bad plumbing

removed sinks

plumbing in new sinks

fixing deep plumbing problems

new sheet rock for E dorm showers

E dorm showers done and ready

freshly painted window sills

before paint and repairs

A dorm kitchen

A dorm beds clean and ready to go

A dorm commons

painting at the F dorm

F dorm beds

Done

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Water Crisis – 2018

RoseAugust 19, 2018November 21, 2019Leave a comment

Water Crisis - February, 2018

After a heavy storm on February 18, 2018 Harney Electric Coop came out to fix a down electrical pole. While drilling to set the new pole, they hit our main water line! They came out to fix this problem.

Over the next couple weeks it was obvious that we had major leaks throughout the station, and after HEC digging up and fixing about 4 or 5 of them, the conclusion was that the entire water system was old and had collapsed throughout the entire station.

We put out a Call for Help in the form of an Appeal Letter to our donors. The project cost was $200,000.00 Our donors stepped up and we met this goal! The project was completed in July of 2018. (viewing this slide show shows how extensive the project was)

The storm that started it all

Water came up all over

and the digging started

13 fire hydrants were installed

putting the final touches on the cleanup

Cool clear water available once again at Malheur Field Station!

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We moved rather quickly on this, even though we had hurdles to overcome. The MNWR (Malheur National Wildlife Refuge) were behind us on getting a new system. Suggestion to move it through the government red tape was to lay the pipe in the same footprint. The Paiute tribe of Harney county was also brought in. We had to lay the new pipe next to or over the existing piping. The Paiute tribe monitored the digging to make sure we did not disturb any archaeological sites. I took bids for job, and settled on Armstrong Construction out of Grant County.

The station was closed all summer of 2018 to lodging guests. We reopened in September with our Members Meeting and Thank you Dinner. It was a huge success. We had 40 people attend the meeting and stay for dinner.

Our water is classified as a public water system and is monitored by the State of Oregon. We are on a regular water testing schedule. The water is good, but heavy in minerals. Some people like it some people don’t.