Office of the Oregon State Forester

On February 1st the newly appointed Oregon State Forester, Doug Decker,  began work here in Salem.  Coincidentally he’s my brother (!),  and yesterday R & I were invited to bring our lunches

(note the apostrophe problem here…oops…you’d need TOOLS to edit it…)

and see the new office…just blocks from our house.  The building sits on the State Forestry campus, and is a real gem:

It was built between 1936 and 1938 (following the 1935 State Capitol fire that destroyed the original offices).  The architect who designed this building also designed the iconic Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and, odd as it may seem, was named Linn A. Forrest (!).  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Doug’s new office is really lovely

and our “job” was to consult on lighting, as he hopes to have the flourescent lighting that was added later removed.

At one end is this fireplace

with these great inset tiles

and these andirons that were made on the site at the time the buildiing was built

This office, and every office in the building, is wood-panelled with the wood donated at the time of construction.  In each office is a small plaque with the name of the wood used, and the donor.  The forester’s office has a variety of woods, including this one:

Though Doug hasn’t been in the office very long, there were some familiar faces there:

We always like to see these places that are real “Oregon places”, and were glad the welcome mat was out: