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The Tale of Three Toilets

by Mike Blenden, Project Leader

I have never written about outhouses, but to a National Wildlife Refuge visitor this is important stuff. To do this justice though, you need a little history. During the years around 1979 the refuge system was enjoying an influx of funding from Bicentennial Land Heritage Project. This was Congress's expression of appreciation of the National Wildlife Refuge System following the country's bicentennial celebration in 1976.

One of the benefits Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge enjoyed was the construction of eight adobe style outhouses scattered across that portion of the refuge open to public use. These were used for years by thousands of waterfowl hunters. Several were available for use by spring crane watchers during the Monte Vista Crane Festival. One of the outhouses met an untimely demise when refuge staff tried to move it from its original site on the 7 Mile South Road . After successfully loading it on to a trailer it quickly rattled apart after too many bumps in the road.

After 30 years of service we started to experience a few problems with the remaining seven. It was obvious to all refuge visitors that we were unable to keep up with the good housekeeping that comes with maintaining a nice, comfortable, much less inviting, restroom. It is true. Our maintenance staff was much reduced from that of previous decades and our responsibilities had grown. As a consequence the toilets were sometimes out of toilet paper, full of tumbleweed and not as clean as most people would expect at a public facility. On top of that, they often reeked due to outdated design. But the final straw was a 2004 assessment by a Fish and Wildlife Service facilities manager who found the remaining outhouses structurally unsound and consequently unserviceable. The following year the refuge successfully competed for funding to replace most of the remaining units.

After assessment of refuge visitor needs, within the funding provided, we decided to replace two of the outhouses on Monte Vista NWR and one on Alamosa NWR with new vault toilets of contemporary design. The units at both refuge offices are actually double to meet peak demand at those sites. For a little less than $100,000 we were able to demolish, remove and reclaim the outhouses on seven sites, and install five new ones on three sites.

So, next time you stop at visit the information kiosk or the parking lot at the corner of the 7 South and 2 East roads at Monte Vista NWR, or the kiosk at Alamosa NWR, take a deep breath and realize that even during hard financial times we're still trying to keep visitors healthy and happy.

Thank you for your interest in and support of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

2nd Annual Kid's Crane Festival

Once again, Kid's Crane Festival was a success. We had approximately 150 kids and parents attend. A free BBQ lunch was provided at noon then the afternoon was packed with fun, educational activities which included: a puppet show, hay rides, games about bird migration, bird nest and egg searches, art activities, crane talks and a hands-on skull identification activity. Thank you to everyone who helped with the event: Bryon Andrews, Tim, Cathy and Ben Armstrong. Ian Blenden, Luciano Chiaramonte, Lisa Clements, Linda Cozart, Jessica Dathe, Brian and Kris DeVries, Simon Dilts, Clarke and Kim Dirks, Hobbie and Ruth Dixon, Josephine Gosiak, Noel Harlan, Julie and Gene Herrera, Sally Kehler, Kyli Kehler, Jenny Nehring, Kelli Stone, Becky Tilden, Greg Thompson, Mirco Tonan and Willard Wickey and family. Also, special thanks to the following businesses and organizations for their support and donations: Alco, Jack's Market, McDonald's, Monte Vista Chamber of Commerce, Monte Vista Safeway, Southern Peaks Library, and Sysco Foods.