The stockade at Fort Vancouver National Site, left, is obscured by a historical warehouse building Thursday morning as Vancouver resident Greg Martin walks his 6-month-old dog, Sage. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
In an effort to reclaim the landscape of the Fort Vancouver National Site, the National Park Service announced plans to demolish five buildings near the Vancouver Barracks this fall.
Officials say the buildings are in poor condition and inhibit visibility on the historic site. They were slated for demolition during the 2012 East and South Vancouver Barracks Master Plan process.
The historic site has 56 buildings on it. The east and south Vancouver Barracks became part of the historic site when the Department of Defense relinquished the barracks to the National Park Service in 2012.
One of the buildings, a warehouse dating back to the Civilian Conservation Corps, will be partially deconstructed to salvage about 30,000 to 40,000 board feet of historic woods. Contractors working on the project assume the wood will be used in furniture, mantelpieces and exposed structural features. It’s a long and fairly narrow building that visually cuts the landscape in two. Fort leaders hope that removing it will mean restoring connectivity between the fort and the orchard and barracks area to the north.
The other buildings are a modern bunker and three small sheds.
“They’re all in, I’d think you can say, very bad condition,” Fort Vancouver Superintendent Tracy Fortmann said.
The contract to demolish the buildings went to Yakima-based RJS Construction, Inc.
“As a woman- and Native American-owned small business, RJS Construction, Inc., is beyond excited to be a part of a project that is focused on respect for history and consideration for the environment,” Chris Boring of RJS Construction said in a news release about the demolition. “We look forward to partnering with the National Park Service and Fort Vancouver as they move forward with the removal of buildings and salvage of historic wood.”
Removing the structures, officials say, is a step toward completing the site’s master plan. It also will improve access and circulation within the fort. The project supports the Federal Lands Access Program grant the city of Vancouver recently received for improvements to East Fifth Street and the main parking lot for the national park.
“We are very pleased to continue moving ahead and bringing the east and south barracks to life as the Sustainable, Historic Campus for Public Service envisioned through the master plan public process. Through this work, we will be improving the safety and visibility of the site,” Fortmann said in a news release.
Removing the old buildings will open the view shed of the fur-trade era landscape. It’ll also enable park officials to chip away at the larger goal of making the site a more walkable, bikeable and driveable place, both for visitors and potential new tenants for unused buildings.
So far, a few tenants have moved in.
Last year, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest Offices relocated to the site from its previous property in east Vancouver.
Earlier this summer, the National Park Service expressed its intent to move its western regional office to the site. The National Park Service made a $10 million renovation funding request for a 33,000-square-foot Parade Ground building in the Vancouver Barracks as part of its fiscal year 2019 budget.
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