Wrangell Sentinel -

Coming months could bring big changes to the way the Wrangell Unit of the Tongass National Forest operates, officials said.

The Wrangell Unit is looking at an approximately 30 percent cut to its total recreation budget this year, said Ranger Bob Dalrymple. At that rate, some 60 percent of remote access cabins (cabins which require a helicopter or boat for access) would be up for possible elimination, and officials would have to seriously re-evaluate — among other things — operations at the Anan Bear Observatory. That may come as potentially very bad news for local tour operators, who run excursions out to the observatory as a marquee tourist attraction in Wrangell.

“We’re going to have to consider a different way of doing business,” he said.

Officials on the local level are trying to think outside the box to mitigate the funding cuts’ effects on beloved cabins and tourist attract icons. Dalrymple has pushed for individuals to adopt, sponsor, or maintain recreational sites they love on an individual basis. Officials will also seriously consider raising the cabin usage fees to help mitigate the costs, Dalrymple said.

“It is bad news if we just look at what we can get rid of,” he said.

At least one cabin will definitely be eliminated, Dalrymple said.

“The cabin on Binkley Slough is no use,” he said. “The slough’s filled in.”

Where the cabin was easily accessible via boat when the slough was open, prospective campers must now boat to the edge of the former slough and hike through muck to get to the cabin, making it a much less attractive prospect for a summer getaway, Dalrymple said.

The remote cabins themselves are a legacy of an era with much lower gas prices, Dalrymple said. As prices for aviation gas and diesel fuel have risen, more remote cabins have seen decreasing numbers of reservations.

Additionally, the early projections showing the cuts could be revised as the agency moves through its budgeting process. In the past, severe cuts have failed to materialize, Dalrymple said.

“It seems like it’s always doom and gloom this time of year,” he said.

He anticipated firmer numbers to become available in January or February.

The cuts have a wider context. Recreation budgets have been traditionally trimmed by smaller percentages over the years, Dalrymple said, but the reduction this year was a severe uptick.

The cuts also come amid cutbacks for the recreation budgets for the whole Tongass, said Hans von Rekowski, a recreation staff officer for the service based out of Sitka.

In 2009, recreation budgets totaled $7.3 million. This compares with $3.5 million so far slated for 2014. According to von Rekowski’s figures, the Tongass’s recreation budget has been cut an average of 14 percent, or $760,000 each year since 2009. The largest single cut forest-wide was made between 2012 and 2013, when officials cut the recreation budget by 21 percent or $1.1 million. Overall, the budget has declined 68 percent, or $3.8 million between 2009 and 2014.

“It’s less than half of what we had in 2009,” he said.

The recreation budget includes cabins and trails, but also heritage and educational programs, developed hot springs, and two major visitors centers, von Rekowski said.

While Dalrymple sought to portray the cuts as potentially flexible, von Rekowski said as far as he’s concerned, the numbers are finals.