TONGASS
NATIONAL FOREST UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE-FOREST SERVICE
News Release
Contact: Erin Uloth
Phone: 907-228-6201
Release Date: May 18, 2009
Contract for popular Tongass cabin boosts local business
Open House to be held Saturday to showoff new yellow-cedar structure
Ketchikan, AK – Public recreation cabins on the Tongass National Forest may be best known as a dry escape from the wet rainforest. Now the cabins are gaining popularity for another reason: a way to provide local jobs.
Ketchikan business owner Larry Jackson said a contract to build a replacement structure for one Tongass cabin helped to keep three employees at Tongass Forest Enterprises employed through the winter months.
“This has been a big project for us,” said Larry Jackson, owner of Tongass Forest Enterprises. “It’s great to have the Forest Service investing in local businesses like this.”
Jackson and two of his workers labored for several months on drying, planing and pre-assembly for the project. The new cabin, built from Alaska yellow cedar harvested locally from the Tongass National Forest, will replace the Dan Moller Cabin, a popular cabin on the Juneau trail system.
The completed cabin will be shipped to Juneau in June. But before that happens, Tongass Forest Enterprises and the Forest Service are teaming up to showcase the newly built cabin at an open house this Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Tongass Forest Enterprises warehouse at Ward Cove. “Just follow the signs to the old pulp mill site,” said Jackson, who will be on hand to answer questions. He said he will also have a cost breakdown of the project, and refreshments for attendees.
“This cabin is one of many projects we have going on this season emphasizing local contractors and local materials,” said Ketchikan-Misty Fiords District Ranger Jeff DeFreest. “The Economic Recovery Act has added quite a bit of work above and beyond our cabin replacement program, providing family-wage jobs in these rural communities.”
Attachment:
05182010_moller_cabin_open_house.doc
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