Facilities Overview
The Flathead Lake Biological Station facilities
include the Schoonover Freshwater Research Lab; the Morton J. Elrod
Building; the Lakeside Building Complex; the G.W. Prescott Center;
cabins, apartments, showers and restrooms; a caretaker's home;
the Director's residence; storage, maintenance, and fire prevention
sheds; a wastewater treatment plant; many research vehicles, vessels
and more.
Elrod Building
The Elrod Building, named for FLBS's first director
and UM Professor of Biology Morton J Elrod, was constructed in 1967.
This 8500 sq ft facility houses faculty and staff offices, as well
as a research library, lecture hall, student computer lab, conference
room and two small wet labs supplied with spring and lake water.
Freshwater Research Laboratory
The 4500 sq ft Schoonover Freshwater Research
Laboratory has an elemental analysis lab, optics room, zoobenthos
and plankton museum, wet lab, sample prep facility, and offices.
It is equipped for state-of-the-art ecological research and graduate
education. The laboratory is an advanced facility housing
a variety of technical instruments used in water research.
Researchers conduct ongoing leading-edge studies, many through international
relationships, within the field of limnology, which is the study
of physical, chemical, meteorological, and biological conditions
in fresh waters.
Full-time researchers coordinate their sampling
work with an onsite lab manager who oversees daily analyses, as
well as assisting graduate students with their samples and research.
The Flathead Lake Biological Station maintains a fully instrumented
30' research vessel along with an array of field equipment
and vehicles. Named after Jessie Bierman, the Jessie
B was purchased with a grant from the National Science Foundation.
It is equipped with high-speed winches for deep-water sampling and
for collecting lake-bottom sediments. An A-frame can lift
heavy nets or samples aboard after they have been winched to the
surface. A hydraulic fire pump allows the boat to double as
a firefighting pumper vessel. This equipment allows the Flathead
Lake Biological Station to assist volunteer fire departments around
the lake, where steep shorelines can complicate lakeshore fire protection.
G.W. Prescott Center
The G.W. Prescott Center, named after long-time
FLBS researcher Gerald W. Prescott, consists of both an Apartment/Dormitory
(South) building and a multi-level Dining and Conference
room (North) building. The North building contains a full
kitchen and indoor dining room, a covered outdoor dining deck with
views of Flathead Lake, and a quiet conference room. The South building
houses four all-season apartments, dorm rooms, and laundry facilities
for the campus.
Lakeside Building &
Limnology Lab
The Lakeside building provides classrooms and conference
rooms with full views of Yellow Bay, as well as the campus limnology
lab. It is available for conferences throughout the year. Graduate
student offices are also located in this building.
Sewage Treatment Plant
Increased use of the Flathead Lake Biological Station
brought the need to address wastewater treatment to a forefront
in the 1960s. The nearby Yellow Bay State Park was also getting
more use. Managers decided to combine wastewater from both
places and treat them in one facility. As a result, in 1973
a highly advanced treatment plant was built. The three-stage
plant was the first of its kind built in Montana. An activated sludge
treatment process uses a tank of micro-organisms to "eat" all of
the nutrients in the wastewater. All harmful organisms and
phosphorus are removed so the water sent into Flathead Lake is clean
enough to drink. The plant can treat 33,000 gallons of wastewater
a day. This facility will handle from 300 to 350 people at
the Flathead Lake Biological Station.
Cabins, Apartments,
and Dormitory Rooms
Housing is available for up to 90 people in the
summer, and 30 in the winter. Long-term residences are available
for visiting researchers and graduate students. Winterized housing
is available in the G.W.
Prescott Center apartments, or in winterized two bedroom
houses. During the summer, students and faculty stay in three-season
cabins that dot the peninsula. These cabins feature wood paneling,
electric lights and heaters, and are furnished with two beds, closets,
and desks.
FLBS Campus Map
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