Siuslaw National Forest Facilities Master Plan:
Waldport Ranger District
Workforce
The workforce at Waldport has been evolving over the
past 10 years to reflect the downsizing on the forest. The Waldport district
has been impacted drastically with the combining of the Alsea and Waldport
ranger positions in 1994. The moving of many Alsea positions to the Waldport
office has resulted in the office space being used to capacity. In 1993,
the transportation engineering zone and the forest road maintenance crew
was consolidated and housed at Waldport.
Office/Conference Space
The original ranger station office was constructed in
1964 with an addition constructed in 1977 by the Job Corps. The building
is in good condition and is well utilized. The building will be rewired
in 1998 to install new data communications wiring. The building is accessible
to the first floor and public access restrooms but an elevator is needed
to access the second floor without having to go to an outside ramp.
In addition to the main office building, a garage and
conference building was constructed by the Job Corps in 1985.
ACTION:
- Continue to maintain the office in present condition and install
elevator as funds permit
- Renew pursuit of acquisition of the trailer court located between
the office and highway 101. This proposal was dropped in 1991 due to
lack of funds. A Washington Office facility review team in 1997 recommended
renewing the process again. Acquisition of this property would improve
the poor site distance at the entrance to Hwy 101, would provide visibility
of the office from Hwy 101 and would allow development of a much better
visitor information center concept.
Warehouse/Shop Space
Blodgett Work Center
This center contains two warehouse buildings, a large
tree cooler building, a road maintenance shop and a haz/mat storage building.
Much of the warehouse space is underutilized and a portion of one warehouse
is used by the Angell Job Corps. Buildings are in need of heavy maintenance
and are deteriorating rapidly.
ACTION:
- Turn over the two warehouse buildings to the Job Corps for their
use in FY 1998. In return, the Job Corps agrees to maintain those two
buildings as well as maintenance of the grounds to include mowing and
general cleanup. In addition, the Job Corps would provide labor for
painting the tree cooler, road maintenance and haz/mat buildings as
needed (paint would be provided by the benefiting function). All other
maintenance of the cooler, road maintenance, and haz/mat building will
be the responsibility of the user.
- The Waldport district would retain the use of the large cooler
to be utilized as the forest cooler.
- The Waldport district would retain the use of the road maintenance
shop building since this is the only space that the crew can move equipment
inside and maintain tools to work on it.
- Waldport recreation and law enforcement storage will be moved
to the Waldport district compound.
- The mobile home site now occupied by Waldport employee Gene Furness
will be occupied by Gene until he retires or decides to move from the
site prior to retirement. At that time, it will be turned over to the
Job Corps for their use and maintenance. Having someone living at this
site provides a security element at the site.
- The planning team is concerned that this site could become a 'junk
yard'~ Both the district and the Job Corps need to agree to keep this
site clean and orderly and not allow surplus items to be stored indefinitely.
The Ranger and Center Director should inspect this site annually for
compliance.
Waldport Ranger Station Site - Warehouse/Shop Space
The buildings at the Waldport Ranger Station site consist
of the following:
Garage/conference room
Carpenter shop
Fire Warehouse
Covered parking
Small Tree Cooler
Haz/mat Storage
The buildings are in good condition except for a new
roof that is needed on the carpenter shop. Space is not utilized well
and the carpenter shop is seldom used with most of the equipment dead
lined for safety violations. The tree cooler is seldom utilized. The garage
for the green fleet is utilized to protect vehicles from the severe coastal
climate but may not be an essential use if more valuable office or warehouse
space is needed.
ACTION:
- Move recreation storage and workshop from Blodgett into the carpenter
shop area. Upgrade carpenter shop equipment for safety if it is to be
used ? if not surplus the equipment. Replace roof on warehouse/shop
in FY 1998.
- Surplus small tree cooler in FY 1998 (removal has already started).
- Move law enforcement storage into the space vacated by small tree
cooler.
- If more storage or office space is needed in the future, consider
converting the covered garage area to office or storage space.
Quarters
There are four residences located on the Waldport compound.
Three houses are occupied by district employees and the
fourth is used as a bunkhouse for volunteers and temporary employees.
The housing is well utilized at this time but the recent increase in rents
may cause employees to look at the local market for housing.
ACTION:
- There is adequate available housing in the Waldport area which
eliminates the need for maintaining housing for permanent employees.
Continue use of the quarters for transitional housing for employees
transferring into the area while they are searching for permanent housing.
- Continue use of the one residence as a bunkhouse. Continue the
practice of temporary employees paying the appropriate bunkhouse rate
and projects paying the bunkhouse rate for volunteers.
- In FY 1998, investigate the feasibility of separating the housing
area from the administrative site for placement on the regional list
of properties for exchange. This property with the four residences is
a prime property. The larger home has a beautiful ocean view and the
others have partial views. An exchange that would involve acquisition
of the trailer court in front of the ranger station office would be
very beneficial. If there was an absolute need for bunkhouse space,
the house to the south could possibly be separated from the remaining
three houses.
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