Description of the Facility

Collections in the Tulane Museum of Natural History are housed in 4 separate bunkers on the grounds of the F. Edward Hébert Riverside Research Center, a former U.S. Navy munitions depot located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, 20 minutes from the uptown campus of Tulane.

In all there are 26 bunkers on the Hébert Center complex, 23 of which are World War II-vintage earthen bunkers designed for ammunition storage, and the remaining 3 of which are more modern, warehouse-type structures. The bunkers are arranged by size in three rows. Areas immediately surrounding the bunkers are mowed but most of the rest of the track is wooded. There is a string of borrow pits with standing water behind each row of bunkers. Both the wooded area and the borrow pits are being maintained as wild areas.

Once renovated, the bunkers at Riverside are ideally suited for collection storage. The bunkers are heavily reinforced concrete structures built to withstand blasts of their entire contents. The back and sides of the bunkers are surrounded by an earthen berm, and a layer of dirt covers the roof. The ceiling slopes from 15 feet high in front to 13 feet high in back and is supported internally by numerous concrete pillars. The bunkers are capable of withstanding hurricane force winds (They were not marred in the least by Hurricane Betsy which passed directly over New Orleans). The bunkers are elevated in such a way that the floor is five feet above ground level. Thus, they are not susceptible to flooding of any kind, including a break in the levee of the adjacent Mississippi River. The floor load capacity is 2,000 lbs. per sq. ft.

The Fish Collection is largely contained in Bunker A-3, one of three 10,000 sq. ft. bunkers located near the rear of the complex. Bunker A-2, another 10,000 sq. ft. bunker, houses birds, mammals, fossils, overflow fishes from A-3, and amphibians and reptiles (including Cagle's collection which was moved to Riverside in 1992). Bunker A-14, and unrenovated, 7,500 sq ft. bunker, houses fishes in large jugs. Bunker A-29, one of the more modern bunkers at the front of the complex, is a partially renovated, storage facility which houses invertebrates, field supplies, and the Meade Natural History Library. A 2000 sq. ft. quonset building is used as storage area for formaldehyde, boats, trailers and the museum vehicle, and also houses the dermestid colony used for skeletal preparations.