When Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, there were numerous existing, privately built cabins on federal lands in Alaska, including lands ANILCA designated as Wilderness. Some of the cabins had been authorized under special-use permits, while others had never been authorized.
The new law directed the Forest Service to issue special-use permits for these cabins, with different rules for cabins that were previously authorized versus cabins that were never authorized. For unauthorized cabins, the permits could be renewed only until the death of the last immediate family member of the original claimant. The clear intent was to phase out these cabins. Conversely, the previously permitted cabins could remain indefinitely, and the permit could be transferred to unrelated persons. And while ANILCA permitted cabins for “traditional and customary” uses, the cabins aren’t allowed for private recreational use.
However, the Forest Service is now proposing to change this permitting system to allow unlimited permit renewals and permit transfers, and is broadening the definition of “traditional and customary” in a manner that could encompass private recreational use. For Wilderness, these changes could mean generations upon generations of persisting structures.
Private recreational cabins don’t belong in Wilderness. Wilderness Watch is urging the Forest Service to leave its policy unchanged and to phase out the pre-ANILCA unauthorized cabins, as per the law’s intent. These cabins were never meant to persist in Wilderness, and to change this policy would undermine both ANILCA and the Wilderness Act.
Photo: Misty Fjords Wilderness by Valeria Cancino/USFS
