The sound of packing tape stripped over boxes, the whirring of machines and the beeping of heavy trucks made a cacophonous symphony Tuesday at Pearson Air Museum as volunteers and employees worked feverishly to turn the facility over to the National Park Service on what they said was very short notice.

NPS officially gave the museum, run by the Fort Vancouver National Trust, 45 days to transition to ownership by the Park Service. But the agency, which owns the land and hangar but not the displays or planes, also told Pearson staff they were coming in by today.

It’s a move that’s caused quite a bit of shock and anger from volunteers — and also from U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, and Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes, who said they plan to fight the Park Service’s efforts.

Short notice

“We received notice (Monday) by hand-delivered communication indicating the Park Service was coming in on Wednesday and demanding we turn over the keys and security codes,” said Elson Strahan, president and CEO of the trust. “Since we own all the assets in the museum or they’re on loan to us from private contributors, we’re not going to turn them over to the Park Service.”

The original agreement between the agency and the city of Vancouver was supposed to allow 180 days of transition time, Strahan said. With the short notice and even shorter deadline to turn over keys, the trust, which runs the museum for the city, made the call to move everything possible over to a hangar at Pearson Field before the deadline.