Located near the entrance to the High Desert Museum is a former ranger station that was relocated from Nevada to this site in 2009 and fully restored with authentic furnishings from the early 1940s. The museum website contains a web page devoted to this ranger station and reads:
One of the first things you see when you enter the Museum grounds is a little white building with a green roof. It’s an authentic forest ranger office from the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area, built in 1933.
After 50 years of service it was no longer needed, so the Museum, in partnership with the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Association of Forest Service retirees (known as the Old Smokeys) brought it here and restored it to vintage perfection. Be sure to visit it before leaving the Museum grounds.
The Old Smokeys welcome Museum visitors to the High Desert Ranger Station daily, July 1 through Labor Day. They share how the U.S. Forest Service worked from historic stations such as this one, and how the U.S. Forest Service continues to manage our national forests and natural resources for all Americans. Come in and meet a ranger to discover this fascinating part of the High Desert’s story!
Restored ranger station at High Desert Museum
High Desert MuseumThe restored ranger station at the High Desert Museum.
A restored ranger station from Nevada will open July 1 at the High Desert Museum, six miles south of Bend.
The historic High Desert Ranger Station will be used to interpret the role of forests in Western American life and the policies that shaped the high desert forests of today.
During the last five years, the museum staff worked with the U.S. Forest Service and Nevada's state Historic Preservation Office to save the station, moving it from a remote location in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.
With help from a small, dedicated corps of volunteers, the museum restored and furnished the station with early 1940s detailing and artifacts.
This story will be brought to life as U.S. Forest Service retirees, the "Old Smokeys" of the agency's Pacific Northwest Region, will be on the station's front porch, talking with visitors about wildfire prevention and the evolving roles of the Forest Service.
This marks the culmination of work led by the museum's curator of Western history Bob Boyd. He worked with museum volunteer Les Joslin, who began working with the Forest Service in the one-room station in 1962, to move the building to the museum last summer.
The station's formerly remote location had been contributing to its demise. It had not been in use for almost 20 years, was 40 miles from the nearest Forest Service administrative site, and was being increasingly vandalized.
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the station in eastern California at Bridgeport, Calif., in 1933. In 1962, the Forest Service moved it to the Reese River Valley in central Nevada.
According to the architectural historian for the region's national Forest Service, this station is the only surviving building of its type that has not been subjected to major renovation or modification over the past 75 years.
The museum and this ranger station are only accessible during business hours since a gate closes after they close to all traffic just off Hwy 97
I was able to locate a Reese River Valley Ranger Station on a topography map (many old ranger stations are noted on older topography maps) and is most likely the same location where this former ranger station once resided.