Petersburg Pilot -

KETCHIKAN — The changing face of visitation on the Tongass National Forest, along with the reality of shrinking budgets, has prompted Tongass managers to begin strategically planning for the future of the forest’s 152 recreation cabins. Increasing costs and declining funding resulted in a $600,000 budget shortfall in the forest’s cabin program this year. In the strategic plan, managers aim to identify cabins that are underused, dilapidated, or otherwise unsustainable, and explore how the forest can refocus available funding on those cabins which are most heavily used and valued by the...