Forest Service Proposes Removal of Two Deteriorating Cabins
In Alaska Wilderness
January 23, 2009
Help us restore a piece of the Alaska wilderness! The US Forest Service is proposing to remove two unsafe, deteriorating structures in Alaska's South Baranof Wilderness. Wilderness Watch strongly supports this proposal. Below is an Issue Alert, and we urge you to send a short email to the USFS supporting their proposal. Comment instructions can be found within the Issue Alert.
Wilderness Watch ISSUE ALERT
What: South Baranof Wilderness Decommissioned Cabins Removal Proposal
The Forest Service is proposing to remove two administrative cabins in the South Baranof Wilderness in Alaska. Wilderness Watch strongly supports the proposal to remove these deteriorated structures, and urges you to write to the Forest Service expressing your support for this plan.
Comments Due: 3/8/09
Written responses may be submitted by mail to: Mary Emerick, Wilderness Manager, Sitka Ranger District, Tongass National Forest, 204 Siginaka Way, Sitka, AK, 99835, or in person at the Sitka Ranger District Office during normal business hours (M–F, excluding holidays).
Electronic comments can be sent in a format compatible with the current version of Microsoft Word, to: comments-alaska-tongass-sitka@fs.fed.us, with the following subject: Removal of Decommissioned Cabins in the South Baranof Wilderness.
Oral responses may be submitted during normal business hours, via phone or in person at the Sitka Ranger District Office. Please call (907) 747-4219 with your comments, or to schedule a time to present your comments in person. Comments may also be made at an official agency function designed to gather public comments (i.e. public meeting).
Background: The US Forest Service (USFS) is requesting feedback on a proposal to remove two decommissioned cabins in the South Baranof Wilderness of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The two deteriorating structures are, according to the USFS, in a “state of advanced disrepair and collapse…and present significant health and safety hazards to visitors.”
The 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) authorized the Forest Service to maintain and operate several public use cabins that existed in areas that ANILCA designated as Wilderness. The proposal by the Forest Service to remove these cabins represents a positive and enlightened approach to protecting the area’s wilderness character.
One cabin is located at the southeastern end of Rezanof Lake. The other cabin sits on the north shore of Maksoutof Lake (sometimes referred to as ‘Lonieof Lake’ on topographic maps). The USFS has addressed options for maintaining cabins at these two sites; however, since neither site is in a high demand area, replacing the cabins would be inconsistent with the Tongass National Forest strategy to maintain cabins in high use areas, and so this option is not being considered.
The USFS proposed removal method involves teams of two or three people per site, removing the structures over three or four days with hand tools such as sledgehammers, pry bars, crosscut saws and other non-motorized tools. Anything that could not be burned would be flown out by floatplane, and the sites would be naturalized during final cleanup. Cleanup would occur in the summer when floatplane access is available, either in 2009 or 2010. Cleanup crews would follow minimum-impact and Leave No Trace guidelines while conducting the work.
Wilderness Watch strongly supports this proposal to remove these structures from the South Baranof Wilderness, and restore the wild, undeveloped character of the Wilderness. Please submit your comments supporting the USFS plan to remove the two structures along with the proposed removal methods, which will be conducted with hand tools and minimal impact to the Wilderness.
For more information, please contact George Nickas: 406.542.2048/gnickas@wildernesswatch.org
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