National Forest Foundation issues contract to rebuild Anan cabin

The National Forest Foundation, working with the U.S. Forest Service, has issued a contract to rebuild the popular Anan Bay cabin, which was taken out by a fallen tree in a February 2023 storm.

“It is conceivable that we will have a cabin again this summer,” said Tory Houser, recreation staff officer for the Forest Service Wrangell District.

The new cabin will include a big upgrade — a large, covered deck — Houser said last week.

The $525,380 contract went to Rainforest Contracting. The Petersburg company rebuilt the observation deck and shelter at the Anan Wildlife Observatory in 2022.

But before it can start work on the new cabin, the company will have “to take down the old one to the foundation,” Houser said.

She said the replacement cabin will use a new design the Forest Service is adopting for its public-use cabins, which includes interior stairs to a full loft.

The Anan work comes as the National Forest Foundation, again working with the U.S. Forest Service, is planning to build a new public-use cabin on Mitkof Island and one on Wrangell Island next year as it gears up to spend money from the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Forest Service Alaska region received almost $15 million from the congressional appropriation, with an additional $2 million available from the nonprofit National Forest Foundation, which will issue and manage the contracts for new cabins, explained Jason Anderson, recreation staff officer with the Forest Service in Petersburg.

Included in that spending plan are at least two new cabins in the Wrangell-Petersburg area.

The Little Lakes cabin, about 25 miles from downtown Wrangell on a Forest Service road near the Long Lake Trailhead, is the Wrangell District’s top priority. Design work is underway, with plans to issue a construction contract later this year for work in 2025, Houser said.

The location is accessible by car in the summer, is hidden from the road by a small hill, and provides recreation opportunities including boating, hiking, hunting and wildlife viewing.

The other area cabin planned for construction in 2025 is at Woodpecker Cove, on the southern end of Mitkof Island, across from Zarembo Island.

“I think they are both candidates for 2025 construction,” Anderson said.

“We’re trying to utilize local wood (cedar) and local work contractors,” Anderson said.

The Forest Service on Jan. 18 issued its final environmental assessment and decision for the two cabins, plus four more cabins that could be built in the years ahead: Fools Pass on the southern half of Wrangell Island and Mustang Lake in the middle of Zarembo Island in the Wrangell District, and Blind Slough and Keex’ Kwáan in the Petersburg District.

The agency decision dropped proposed cabin sites at Burnett Portage on Etolin Island and Fools Inlet on Wrangell Island.

New Southeast cabins can cost at least $500,000 each, depending on site preparations, remote locations and other factors, Houser said.

Anderson said the Forest Service and its partner, the National Forest Foundation, are targeting 15 new cabins with the available federal and nonprofit funds, though it will depend on how much money will be needed for site preparation, drainage, foundation, managing erosion, whether a short spur road is needed and other factors — such as whether the cabin site has to be moved to avoid an eagle nest.

“It’s hard to put an average value on a cabin,” Anderson said. “The structures oftentimes are the smallest of the costs.”

He added, “We’re still in the process of digging in” to learn more about specific cabin sites.

The agency will get a good start on its work plan this summer, with construction expected to begin at a new cabin at El Capitan on the northwest end of Prince of Wales Island. Ketchikan-based Coastal Tree Work was awarded that contract.

Anderson expects the contract will go out later this year for construction next year of a new cabin at Signal Creek, near Ward Cove, north of Ketchikan.