Despite the best intentions, repairs to the dock at Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island will not be done in time for this year’s deer hunting season, which starts Saturday, Aug. 1. The season runs through Nov. 30.

The contractor on the U.S. Forest Service project encountered delays in getting material for the repair job, Tory Houser, Wrangell District ranger, said on July 24.

“As a resident of Wrangell and an avid venison eater, I am disappointed,” she added. 

Roosevelt, about a 12-mile boat ride southwest of Wrangell’s downtown harbor, is a popular access point to Zarembo for hunters and recreation users. There is a parking lot and road access to the Forest Service Deep Bay public-use cabin. 

The dock has been closed since a December 2024 windstorm knocked down a large tree that split the wooden causeway to the dock in two, ripping through its planking and railing.

The Forest Service awarded a $160,000 contract last November to Juneau-based Carver Construction. The work included repairing the wooden causeway and the rotted and rusted attachments that connect the floating dock to pilings.

Though the dock and its causeway to reach shore have been out of commission, a loading ramp allows access to the island for boats that can nose into the beach, Houser said. Vehicles, including four-wheelers, can be offloaded at the ramp.

The contractor repaired the gangway this past spring but has been waiting for steel pieces and a large glu-lam beam (multiple layers of lumber laminated together) to repair the dock, pushing the completion timeline back a few months.

“I definitely hope so,” Houser said of finishing the job before the end of the year.

Until repairs are completed, the dock is not safe to use and is tied off with a rope, she said.

The parking area at Roosevelt is still in use, with several vehicles left there by their owners for hunting and recreational trips on Zarembo. The district ranger reminded vehicle owners that they need to get a parking permit for their vehicles, which is available for free from the Forest Service offices on Bennett Street.

The same dock was damaged in a 2022 windstorm — almost the same week two years earlier than the 2024 storm. The 2022 damage was repaired in the summer of 2024.

“Who would have thought those trees … were going to fall exactly so that they squished through the gangway,” Houser said in December 2024. “I don’t know if anybody could anticipate that.”

Now that the Forest Service has seen a falling tree strike the same spot twice, they want to make sure three times is not the charm. 

“We’re going to have a sawing class in Wrangell,” hopefully this fall, for Forest Service personnel, she said. One of the class assignments will be to cut down any trees that look like they could fall on the dock or causeway.

“We do not want this to happen again.”