The U.S. Forest Service is delaying a decision on what to do with historic buildings and other structures at the Kawishiwi Field Laboratory near Ely.
"Significant interest in reuse of the buildings has surfaced in the past two months," Northern Research Station assistant director Tom Schmidt said in a news release Tuesday. "Although the Forest Service has no need of the buildings for research or land management purposes, we are open to having some other entity rehabilitate and maintain them."
In July, the government released for public comment a final environmental assessment that proposed demolishing the buildings after architectural, landscape and engineering documentation was completed. Tuesday's announcement defers action on the environmental assessment.
A final decision is expected in 2011 after options for reusing the buildings have been explored.
The Kawishiwi Field Laboratory buildings are in the Kawishiwi Experimental Forest, which was established in 1931.
