High Desert
Ranger Station
Nestled in the ponderosa pine trees along the Fire in the Forest Trail sits a little white building with a green roof. It’s an authentic U.S. Forest Service ranger station office built east of the Sierra Nevada in 1933.
The High Desert Ranger Station has been on the move many times in its life. The one-room building was located at the Bridgeport Ranger Station in California’s Mono National Forest. In 1962, the Forest Service moved the building to the Reese River Ranger Station in Nevada, where it remained in use as a seasonal office until 1977. During the 1970s and 1980s, the building fell into disrepair and remained unused for decades.
In June 2008, in conjunction with Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest staff and Singletree Associates, the Museum’s staff and volunteers moved the building 550 miles to Bend for the purpose of forest history interpretation. It greeted visitors from its spot at the front of the Museum’s property. It was the first thing anyone saw as they came up the drive.
After months of renovation, the Museum opened the High Desert Ranger Station to the public in 2009. Every summer since, Museum volunteers have welcomed visitors to the ranger station.
In December 2024, the Museum relocated the historic ranger station to an interior area near the High Desert Ranch and Sawmill. At its new location, the Museum is excited to welcome even more visitors to the station, where they will learn about the ecological role of fire in the forest and the history of the Forest Service’s land management practices.
