Stimulus funds pay for cabins on Iditarod Trail
Published Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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Stumble It!ANCHORAGE, Alaska - One public-use cabin is already under construction along the Iditarod Trail, another is planned for this summer, and $400,000 in federal stimulus funding is on the way to pay for at least four more, the trail's chief manager said Monday.
Kevin Keeler, Iditarod National Historic Trail administrator for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said it's all part of an effort to make Alaska's most famous trail into a real trail.
A historic, century-old, sled-dog road from tidewater in Seward to the gold fields of Nome on the Bering Sea, the trail was largely abandoned in the mid-1900s, only to be rediscovered with the birth of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1973. The race has used a route it calls the Iditarod Trail ever since, but much of it is more of a line on a map than a fixed reality on the ground.
Especially in open areas, the trail in one winter can be miles away from where it was the previous winter. The BLM, in cooperation with the state of Alaska and Native corporations, has for several years now been trying to get the trail marked and protected by easements across non-federal lands.
At the same time, the federal agency has been expanding efforts to make the trail safer by building shelter cabins at reasonable distances along the route. The cabin that will be going up this summer is along the trail between Iditarod and Shageluk in the Innoko River country. It will be near the place where three Iditarod dog teams were stranded in a deadly blizzard that killed two dogs, nearly claimed the life of another, and forced all three teams out of the race in March.
"It looks like the new safety cabin construction we're going to be doing between Iditarod and Shageluk is going to be a 'dress rehearsal' for bigger things to come," Keller added, citing the $400,000 that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said is now on its way for more cabins.
Among the first new ones Keeler would like to see built is a structure to replace "Don's Cabin" along the southern route of the trail between Ophir and the ghost town of Iditarod. Don's is more shack than cabin, Keeler said, and it is located in a less than perfect location for parking a dog team or stopping along the Iditarod in winter.
Keller added that he is hoping to get local labor involved in all of the construction.
"We're setting it up to have a youth crew from the Shageluk community build the cabin this summer" near the Big Yentna River, Keeler said. He's hoping to get them more work building future cabins and get other villages involved in construction.
"I'd like to get the money into the local villages," Keeler said.
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$400,000 to build 4 cabins? What the hell are they building them out of to cost $100,000 each?
$3900 for 40 foot insulated Conxxes, $200 for a door, $300 for a few window, put in about $1000 for cots, countertop and a woodstove.
Where do I sign up to be a contractor on this project. ;) lol
I'm sure they'll have to also include a $15,000 piece of artwork or something in order to add culture to the Cabins. And $5,000 for Solar Panels to make sure we aren't using any evil Oil or Wood.
On second thought, it won't take long for them to hit $100k per cabin. In reality they'll probably come up short and ask for additional funding.
This is as bad as the bridge to nowhere saga.
Waste, Fraud & Abuse of federal stimulus funds.
I have to take issue with tax dollars being spent as "stimulus" money to benefit the venue of a sporting event. THIS is the best use of $400,000 in our tax money?!? Wow, talk about scrambled priorities. Once the national media gets wind of this it's going to be right up there with the Bridge To Nowhere.
But since the powers that be have decreed this to be a worthy investment, somebody needs to take a very critical look at the budgets for these units. With $400K to spend there ought to be a nice new cabin built about every 75 miles along the length of the trail, not 4 REALLY ***nice*** cabins built, one apparently to commemorate mistakes made by at least one musher in 2009, taking the lives of canine athletes and putting Alaska's state sport in a very bad light once again.
This is the change you voted for. Get used to it.
How much you want to bet they will have to haul all the building supplies and workers by helicopter. The workers will probably get paid pretty good wages for being on site 24/7 during construction. Outhouses will probably be state of the art and meet all environmental standards to protect the ground. Hazardous materials, gas for generators, ect will have to transported at additional cost and handled as such. God forbid they spill any gas, the EPA will be all over the place. The cost of transporting per pound of lumber and building materials can get pretty pricey. Put on top of all of this the fact they will probably have to be built to federal standards for cabins built in a federal park in one of the national parks in the lower 48. They probably will want everything bear proofed. Beginning to see how the cost is adding up. Heck it probably will cost a million before it is done.
Yep, and when the stimulus money is gone and the cabins fall into disrepair or get vandalised, the state will have to come up with the money for maintenance and repairs. All for a few dozen people to use once a year. Outrageous. Can you say higher taxes? In addition to the ongoing maintenance costs, someone, sometime, is going to have to pay back the stimulus money. The government cannot to continue to spend money it doesn't have. Higher federal taxes are inevitable at this point. Spending is way out of control.
You can only imagine what other 'Stimulus' embarrassments are out there in the Outside.
These 'Stimulus' hucksters have no shame. This isn't even close to being legitimate under ANY circumstances.
They'd better make one of those shacks a full service lube and oil for the dog teams or PETA will throw another fit.
Oh NO, not PETA?!?!?!?!? We should put a medical aid station with each hut and a full vet staff just in case.
It only costs about what, $50,000 for a nice dry cabin? What would be so difficult about having the national guard or airforce airlift completed cabins into place along the trail? That would at least be 8 cabins for the same money. Gotta love(hate) seeing what our tax dollars can really buy.
I guess because local labor will be used to build the cabins, that makes it stimulus funds. Personally, I think the funds could better be used to upgrade community services in several villages. Employ villagers to do the work and take pride in their own community. I guess having cabins that a few will use once a year makes better press, I say with my head held down.
On the other hand... $400,000 cash injected into local community economies sounds better than many of the other stimulus fund ideas. Local youth put to work this summer learning wilderness building skills is good, yes?
I don't know exactly when the BLM became a Howard Johnson franchise, but the rates for cabin rental and reservation proceedures for "public-use" cabins in the White Mountains is ridiculous. The trails are poorly maintained and would be impassable were it not for the people who voluntarily maintain them. If this is the future of our public lands management, then the trail and it's cabins will be unusable for 99% of the public 99% of the time.
What a waste! These cabins must be something! Kickbacks.......anyone?
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