There are dozens of public use cabins across Southeast Alaska that offer residents and visitors unique camping opportunities in remote places. Skagway has three, with another on the way.
But there’s only one in Haines. The Tukga Hut was built by volunteers, is run by a nonprofit and is perched on a mountain more than 3,000 feet above town.
Now, the same nonprofit is proposing building a second public use cabin in the area. This time, it would be managed by the state and located in the Chilkat State Forest.
The Alaska Desk’s Avery Ellfeldt sat down with Haines Huts and Trails Executive Director Nate Arrants to learn more about the proposal. Arrants said the goal is to provide locals with a more accessible camping option in a new part of the Chilkat Valley, but he said the process could take years.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Avery Ellfeldt: Last month, Haines Huts and Trails announced it’s proposing building a new cabin, potentially located in the Twin Coves area. I’m wondering if you can tell me how long this has been in the works and what the idea is behind the proposal?
Nate Arrants: It came about after the Tukga Hut. Obviously, we opened about a little over a year ago, and it’s been such a great success. But the main comment we’ve got from a lot of community members has been that they would love a public use cabin that’s more accessible for families, elders and other people who just aren’t able to make it all the way up to the Tukga Hut, which is totally understandable. It’s just such a good spot that has a lot less elevation gain and is really a lot easier for families and other people to be able to get out and access somewhere where they might not usually be able to go.
AE: Haines Huts and Trails already spearheaded the construction of the Tukga Hut. I’m sure that was a long process. I’m wondering if you can sum up what that looked like, and then what lessons might have been learned in that process that could kind of be applied to a second round.
NA: My understanding of the process was, it was about a decade in the works, and the location got moved around countless times. During that process, Haines Huts and Trails was founded in 2018. And then after that, it was just years of permitting and fundraising before actually getting it built. And so, it’s definitely a long process, and we don’t expect this to be quick at all. Right now, we’re just kind of going through the initial permitting phase to see if it’s feasible.
AE: Do you have a sense of how much something like this might cost? I don’t know if the Tukga Hut is a comparable example, but I’m curious what a potential budget could look like.
NA: Haines Huts and Trails was definitely able to build the Tukga Hut was far cheaper than any of the government funded cabins in the state, mostly because of just a tremendous amount of volunteer work. And so the Tukga Hut had over 300 volunteer days by over 100 people. And so a lot of that labor was covered, which is a huge expense. A cabin like this – the state and other agencies tend to budget, most of them, usually in the $150,000 to $250,000 range, all in. When drawing up a rough budget a few months ago, I think we were looking at probably $120,000 to 150,000 at least.
AE: I’m wondering if you can help me contextualize this a bit in terms of how the Chilkat Valley compares to other parts of Southeast? Is it common to only have one in the whole area? Or do other places have more opportunity?
NA: It’s kind of extreme how few we have for how many people we have here. And most of that is due to the land agencies surrounding us. And so if you look at Southeast Alaska, 80% of Southeast Alaska is Tongass National Forest, and there are over 200 public use cabins in the Tongass. And so the Forest Service builds them, manages them, all of that. And so almost every other community has far more accessible cabins from town, accessible by boat, accessible by plane, everywhere. And then State Parks has another 15 or so elsewhere.
AE: I’ve seen at least one, maybe two, public comments kind of raising concerns that a hut in the area could not could negatively affect hikers, tourists, wildlife, I’m curious what you make of that concern and how you’d characterize like the broader public feedback that you’ve received since the proposal was kind of made public?
NA: I’ve received some comments like that too, and I definitely recognize the concern. My main thought, and what we try to think about is like cost versus benefit. And yes, having cabins in areas can increase impacts on those areas. But also it consolidates impacts from campers and people going there. And then it provides people with such awesome opportunities to get out there. And I find that they then, once they’re out there, tend to be more respectful of the areas and buy in more on protecting those areas.
