Timberlake Facilities

The field station currently is home to the following structures/buildings that are used as part of the operations and maintenance:

TBFS Current Layout 12 22
TBFS Layout December 2022
  • Green Cabin: Deeded by the former owners (Louis and Judith Green) to Tarleton in 2020, the three-bedroom cabin is currently serving as the station headquarters with a kitchen, two bathrooms, laundry facilities, and a living area that is being utilized as a conference room. 
  • Bath house: Funded by the College of Science and Technology, the two-room facility has separate men’s and women’s bathing facilities as well as toilets and urinals.  It is an accessible facility with a wheelchair ramp and other appropriate features. 
  • Farley Education Building: With construction completed in 2020, the Farley Education Building is a 1,300 sq ft multi-purpose building that includes two large TVs, digital presentation equipment (computer, software, etc.), satellite internet through Starlink (funded through the Tarleton President’s Circle), Wi-Fi access linked back to Tarleton’s main network, and an assortment of portable tables and chairs.  Funding for this building was a joint effort by several donors from the Terry Farley family (60%) as well as the College of Science and Technology (40%).  (The building currently houses two microscope cabinets with 24 dissecting microscopes that will be moved to the research labs once constructed.) 
  • Two 12-person 670 sq ft bunkhouses were installed in Fall 2022.  Each bunkhouse has 6 bunkbeds, cabinets for each of 12 occupants to store personal gear, and a small restroom with two toilets and a double vanity.  Funding for the two bunkhouses was provided by Tarleton’s Division of Academic Affairs and the College of Science and Mathematics. Additional bunkhouses will be added in the near future with the goal of providing housing for up to 48 students/researchers for short term or extended stays. 
  • Storage buildings: The field station has two large open-air storage buildings (formerly hay barns) that are used to store the equipment needed for maintenance and operation of the field station (tractor, implements, side-by-side vehicles, etc.).  Other storage facilities include an enclosed 20’ trailer formally used to transport UTVs and now used for surplus tables and chairs and other supplies/equipment that need to be kept in a weatherproof facility and a former greenhouse that is used to store a variety of field gear (seines, mist-nets, aquatic sampling gear, etc.). 
  • Pavilion/covered eating space: The facility has an approximately 30 ft. X 30 ft. open air pavilion outfitted with picnic tables, two grills, appropriate dry good storage, and a beverage cooler. 
  • Research Grade Weather Station: TBFS is partnering with Texas Tech University’s National Wind Institute to construct a weather station to connect to their West Texas Mesonet network (https://mesonet.ttu.edu/).  The weather station provides instant online access to temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, solar radiation, soil temperature and soil moisture. All weather data will be archived through the National Wind Institute to provide long term tracking of various parameters.  This ~$16,000 project was funded jointly by COSM and funds generated by TBFS’s hunting lease. 
  • Fiber high-speed internet connection (planned through Central Texas Telecommunications): Tarleton’s IT personnel are working with the local internet provider to bring 1GB fiber to the field station (current connection options are either 4MB DLS or Starlink’s 200MB service). It is anticipated that this connection will be in early 2023.