The longtime home of the Timberwolves is now the headquarters of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The transition is taking place this month as the Gifford Pinchot staff moves into a newly renovated structure in Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The agency’s new headquarters is part of the “front row” — a century-old landmark comprising four Vancouver Barracks buildings that face Officers Row.
“I love it,” Forest Supervisor Gina Owens said this week as staff members unpacked boxes and outfitted their new work areas.
The new HQ is at the west end of the series of buildings, just across Fort Vancouver Way from the O.O. Howard House. It has been vacant since 2010, when the Army Reserve’s 104th Division — the Timberwolves — was transferred north to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
After the National Park Service took over the east and south portions of Vancouver Barracks in 2012, it kicked off a renovation project to bring the 1900s-era front-row structures into a new century of public service.
Welcoming the foresters is the first step, said Tracy Fortmann, the National Park Service’s superintendent at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
It’s not just a landlord-tenant relationship.
“A big benefit is the partnership with the Park Service,” Owens said. The agencies already collaborate on events such as national Get Outdoors Day.
A Forest Service representative is now on duty at the park’s Fort Vancouver Visitor Center, which means increased public interaction for both agencies.
Access to the public is important to community engagement staff officer Tracy Calizon.
“This area is for community engagement,” Calizon said as she unpacked in her new corner work space.
The national forest was headquartered at 10600 N.E. 51st Circle in Orchards. In the shadow of the Interstate 205-state Highway 500 interchange, the office didn’t have much of a public profile.
The new location has other benefits, Calizon added.
“The offices of our congressional delegation are just across the street.”
The $7 million headquarters renovation included a new roof and extensive interior work. It was important to preserve the historic character of the building.
“These are the original pressed-metal ceilings and the original railings on the stairs,” said Jonathan Heyl, forest engineer.
Restoration also meant erasing some earlier remodeling and opening up the interior.
“There were some cubicle walls and temporary additions over the last couple of decades,” said Tessa Langford, park service museum curator.
Built in the first few years of the 1900s, the barracks might have been constructed with lumber from timberlands that are now are part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
“I imagine it’s all locally sourced,” said Angie Elam, deputy forest supervisor. “We’re excited to be part of that layer of history.”
The new space can accommodate about 85 Gifford Pinchot employees. Built in 1907, it was catalogued by the Army as Building 987. That heritage is reflected in the street address, 987 McClellan Road.
The revenue from the lease will stay at Fort Vancouver, supporting more renovation projects.
It’s a 30-year lease, but Fortmann expects the renovated headquarters and its neighboring structures to have a much longer life than that.
“We are in business to ensure that in 100 years, these buildings will be here,” Fortmann said. “We are fortunate with these structures: They have very good bones. We all feel tremendously fortunate to be part of the effort that rehabilitated them. They’re glorious, gorgeous buildings.”
This isn’t a long-distance move for forest officials. After the previous lease expired in April, the Gifford Pinchot staff actually set up temporary operations in the smallest of the “front row” structures, just two buildings to the east.
The national forest is also leasing a more recently built brick structure known as Building 404, in the South Barracks. A $2 million renovation converted the former Army vehicle maintenance shop into a dispatch center.
It provides radio and emergency services for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and the Gifford Pinchot and Mount Hood national forests.
Another federal partner, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has already announced plans to relocate two Portland-area field offices to Fort Vancouver. Their intended home, Building 728, was built in 1941. It is a one-story structure in the center of the East Barracks.
