This Utah field station was used by New Deal workers and wounded soldiers. Now, it has another shot at life.

A historic field station near Logan Canyon’s Tony Grove that once faced demolition has been revamped into an outdoor learning center for students in the Logan City School District, a restoration project that came to life after numerous Cache Valley residents advocated for its preservation.

The school district celebrated the opening of the new Grizzly Outdoor Learning Center last month. For many, the event marked the end of the battle to save the buildings, which embody the stories of Logan Canyon from the 20th century.

For Jack Greene, a northern Utah naturalist and educator with a long history of establishing nature centers, his advocacy was about preserving history while creating more opportunities for kids and teens to experience the outdoors.

“I have a real deep history and belief in getting these individuals, whether it be preschoolers or seniors and everything in between, out into these marvelous outdoor landscape settings,” Greene said.

The property, which Greene said is situated near at least five different ecological communities, was originally established in the early 1930s as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, providing barracks and facilities for workers on New Deal projects in the Bear River Range.

Later that decade, the Utah State Agricultural College, now known as Utah State University, was granted permission to use the facility as a summer camp for forestry students to study the Logan Canyon ecosystem firsthand. In the 1940s, the military acquired the station and used it as a camp to house wounded soldiers being treated at Bushnell Hospital in Brigham City.

A fire threatens the station’s future

Although the camp was eventually used again by the U.S. Forest Service and the university, activity at the facility began to decline after 1998, following a fire that destroyed the mess hall and left it without kitchen facilities.

The station then faced the imminent threat of removal by the Forest Service. When Greene — who helped establish both the Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon and the Ogden Nature Center — learned of its potential demise, he rallied a group to advocate for its preservation as a place for education. Learning about natural spaces, he said, helps people care for them.

Greene’s group succeeded in raising $150,000 to preserve the buildings, but securing the rest of the necessary funding remained a challenge. That’s when Tony Johnson, a Cache Valley developer passionate about preserving historic buildings, decided to invest in the property. When Johnson heard the building could be demolished, he knew he wanted to restore it to its original condition.

“There’s some buildings and some structures that need to have a new life,” Johnson said. “If we can participate in that, we want to do so. Not all buildings make sense to be able to be saved, but these up here clearly do.”

After Johnson purchased the property, the school district expressed interest in using it for an outdoor education program, and reached an agreement to use the station. Johnson updated the station and worked with the district to rebuild the mess hall and convert the property into a camp for students.

“Now, the new life is going to be able to bring up a bunch of kids that are going to be able to enjoy it,” Johnson said. “The vision’s coming together.”

Today, the station stands with multiple buildings that are, and will continue to be, used by students of all ages as both a day-use area and an overnight camp. The district and Johnson also plan to restore the station’s historic bunkhouse.

A fresh opportunity for fresh air

Near the station flows Little Bear Creek, a major spawning stream for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout. Active beaver dams can also be seen along the waterway. School district Superintendent Frank Schofield said the center will provide students who might not otherwise have the chance with the opportunity to explore the canyon, an issue he has seen in every community he’s served.

“There’s always a group of students that are 15 minutes away from mountains and have never gone in,” Schofield said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is make sure that all of our students have the opportunity, have the experience of being here.”

Schofield said nearly 4,000 students will visit the center annually, participating in a variety of courses and activities. Teachers in the district are developing lesson plans for use at the center, including plant identification, nature walks and wildlife observation, with a focus on animals like beavers. But science won’t be the only subject taught here, he said. English and art teachers have also shown interest in bringing students to the camp for creative inspiration.

This wide range of activities is what school board member Katie Chapman loves most about the center.

“Their minds can expand in ways that they don’t when they’re sitting in the same classroom they see every day,” Chapman said. “When they’re totally in a separate environment, it provides that opportunity to think outside the box a little bit.”

Chapman said she is also excited about students learning the history of the station when they visit.

“That hopefully will translate to the kids respecting [the] space and respecting the history of the space,” she said, “and the people that have come before them in [the] space.”