(Photo by Ola Richards)
The Petersburg Ranger District has approved repairs to an aging public use cabin at the mouth of Portage Bay, on the north end of Kupreanof Island.
West Point Cabin lies about 20 miles west of Petersburg and is accessible by boat and floatplane. According to the U.S. Forest Service, it was built 30 years ago and has seen better days. The Forest Service estimates the cabin has about 20 years of life remaining, with routine maintenance. But the repairs could extend the cabin’s life many years beyond that.
The project would repair and replace parts of the cabin’s outer frame and foundation. It would also reinforce a couple damaged beams inside the cabin and replace a few rotten deck boards.
The Forest Service anticipates that they’ll have to close the cabin to public use next summer to complete the repairs. The federal agency doesn’t have an estimated start date for the project, but the closure could take up to three weeks.
Petersburg Ranger District will not declare a start date until they’ve hired a contractor to complete the maintenance. The project is paid for by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and completed in partnership with the National Forest Foundation.
