Eastern Oregon’s former Umatilla Chemical Depot once stored weapons that left a lasting mark on the landscape. Concrete bunkers now sit among sagebrush and open grassland where pronghorn still roam. The site’s military past gave way to a quieter role as habitat for wildlife, yet one group of residents faced a critical shortage. Burrowing owls, which rely on underground tunnels for nesting, found fewer options after local mammal populations declined.
The Depot’s Shift from Military Use to Natural Habitat
The Umatilla Chemical Depot operated for decades as a storage facility before its closure and transition to other uses. Remaining structures and surrounding dry country created a patchwork environment that supported several species. Pronghorn continued to move through the area, while smaller mammals such as badgers became scarce. That change directly affected ground-nesting birds that depend on existing burrows rather than digging their own. Burrowing owls historically used tunnels created by badgers and prairie dogs. With fewer such tunnels available, breeding opportunities at the depot dropped sharply by the late 2000s. Only a handful of pairs remained, prompting concern among local observers who tracked the birds over time. The situation highlighted how changes in one part of an ecosystem can ripple outward to others that share the same space.
A Lifelong Interest in Owls Shapes a Practical Response
David H. Johnson developed an early fascination with owls that began during childhood camping trips. At age eleven he encountered an eastern screech owl calling near his tent, an experience that stayed with him. That interest later guided his work at the depot, where he focused on the specific needs of burrowing owls rather than broader habitat restoration alone. Johnson recognized that artificial structures could serve as immediate substitutes while longer-term recovery of mammal populations continued. He worked with collaborators to install plastic barrels connected to the surface by pipes. These simple designs mimicked the shelter badgers once provided and proved acceptable to the owls within a short period.
Monitoring Efforts Reveal Steady Population Growth
The artificial burrows allowed breeding pairs to increase within the first year of installation. Over the following decade the depot supported one of the better-documented burrowing owl populations in the region. Researchers recorded calls, tested different nest designs, and tracked movements of individual birds across the site. By 2024 the monitoring program documented more than one hundred nesting attempts in a single season. Nearly five hundred chicks received bands that year, providing data on survival and dispersal. The work combined field observations with consistent record-keeping that helped refine future efforts at similar locations. Johnson’s approach emphasized targeted intervention over large-scale changes. The barrels addressed an immediate bottleneck without requiring the return of badgers or prairie dogs first. That focus produced measurable results while the broader landscape continued its gradual shift away from its military history.
Continued Relevance of Targeted Conservation Actions
The Umatilla site now stands as an example of how former industrial or military lands can support wildlife when specific needs are addressed. Johnson’s death on June 15 at age 69 leaves behind a body of work that researchers continue to build upon. The banded birds and accumulated records offer a baseline for ongoing studies in eastern Oregon and beyond. Practical steps like the barrel installations demonstrated that modest, species-specific measures can yield visible improvements. The owls’ acceptance of the structures showed that even simple engineering can bridge gaps created by earlier environmental shifts. Such efforts remain relevant as other sites face similar challenges with ground-nesting species. The story at Umatilla illustrates how one person’s sustained attention to a single problem can alter outcomes for a local population. The depot’s bunkers and grasslands now host a more stable group of burrowing owls than existed two decades earlier. That outcome reflects both the site’s unexpected capacity for recovery and the value of persistent, focused work.
