A Map of Public USe Cabins in Alaska
How the Map was Made…
As part of an effort to understand the impacts of and opportunities surrounding public use cabins (also called huts) in Alaska, CED cataloged and documented as many cabins and resources as we could find. The cabins range in size and luxury from simple, two-occupant shelters to comfortable accommodations for a dozen or more people.
We found 249 federally managed cabins. These are largely on US Forest Service land in Southern Alaska but the remainder are spread across the state.
There are 93 state-managed cabins. Most of these are under the management of Alaska State Parks, with a few managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
We also found 24 private and non-profit cabins across the state. Examples of these include properties managed by The Alaska Huts Association, Valdez Adventure Alliance, and Alaskan Yurt Rentals among others.
In our research we discovered not only “traditional” public use cabins but also mooring buoys, ice fishing huts, and emergency shelters all designed to facilitate recreation and exploration across the state.
Mooring buoys are usually located near a public use cabin and are not available to reserve. The primary purpose of the buoys is to provide safe mooring for people who arrive at their rented cabin by boat.
Ice fishing huts are available to rent during the day and provide a great opportunity for people who don’t have a hut or specialized temporary shelter of their own to participate in ice fishing.
Emergency Shelters are usually located along trails and are not available to reserve but serve as a safety net for travelers.
CED combined all of this information (along with GPS coordinates for each site) into a database for our team to reference.
