ALASKA’S PUBLIC USE CABINS MAY BE IN JEOPARDY

The Tongass National Forest maintains 144 public use cabins across
southeast Alaska for visitors to enjoy, offering access to a variety of recreational
opportunities. Yet many visitors are unaware there are cabins that can be rented and
flown or boated to in the wilderness. Cabin use with road access has increased, but at
present the majority of cabins require airplane access, and their preservation is coming
under the scrutiny of the USFS.

RAF Alaska Liaison Jeff DeFreest states the decline in general aviation over the past
decades has created a dilemma for USFS recreation managers responsible for their
maintenance. “Remote cabins are expensive to maintain, and with diminished
government budgets and popular slogans like ‘we need to do more with less,’ it’s easy
to see where a Ranger would focus funding toward the close-in cabins, or those
accessible by their trucks or boats,” DeFreest says.

Many of these remote cabins – whether in designated Wilderness or not – provide very
unique opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, as well as backcountry safety. Those
accessed by plane, floatplane or boat provide unique solitude and independence.
USFS cabin crews customarily provided annual maintenance and repairs at each cabin,
even filling the woodsheds. With ever-tightening budgets, some cabins may not see a
USFS cabin crew for three or more years, and deferred maintenance renders the visitor
experience less satisfying, leading to diminished appeal and use.

With the RAF’s formalized collaboration with the USFS, DeFreest expects that
disappointing trend to improve. Volunteer labor and cost-sharing agreements can help
preserve fly-in cabins. As of this writing, DeFreest and his wife Kari have organized a
volunteer work party to maintain two Heckman lakefront cabins.

The Tongass Forest has published their plan for cabin sustainability. “We’re going to
build, relocate, and remove cabins in order to increase public access and use, while
reducing costs and avoiding the addition of deferred maintenance on the cabin system,”
it states. Usage is key to preservation. The document concludes, “With the goal of
increasing visitation and decreasing maintenance costs across the Tongass, annual
evaluation of this strategy will be key to demonstrating success.”

In addition to the willing volunteers that turned out to work at Heckman Lake, a different kind of help is needed. DeFreest advises, “Visit the fly-in lake cabins that offer something of interest to you and then let it be known. Spread the word. Write in the cabin logbook, post on the Tongass Cabin Users Facebook page, and let the Ranger District know about your experience, and communicate any problems or repairs needed that you find.”

Submitted on April 24, 2024.
By Carmine Mowbray

Posted in News

TIME TO REVIEW AIRSTRIP SAFETY BRIEFINGS

March 30, 2026

As you're planning your 2026 flying adventures, remember to review safety briefings for the airstrips you plan to visit. The RAF strongly recommends you review safety briefings and print a copy to have in your airplane - it's even required to fly into some airfields, like Ryan Field (2MT1). For those airfields, pilots flying in are required to review the briefing on an annual basis, and now is the perfect time to catch up on any changes to the runway/area that happened throughout the winter. You can find safety briefings on the RAF Airfield Guide . If an airfield in the Airfield Guide has a required briefing, the airfield listing will clearly indicate it and have a tab to view the briefing. Submitted March 30, 2026 Photo By Jim Stevenson: Ryan Field, MT (2MT1)

RAF VOLUNTEERS HELP RESTORE HISTORIC RANGER AIRFIELD HANGAR

March 30, 2026

RAF Texas volunteers and Ranger Airfield Foundation volunteers helped begin restoration of the historic 1928 Ranger Airfield hangar on March 28. “A Wright biplane landed here at the field in 1911, and people have been using it ever since,” Ranger Airfield Foundation Founder Jared Calvert said. He noted that Amelia Earhart landed there in a Pitcairn Auto Gyro. Richard Bach, Pancho Barnes, and General Patton also landed at the field. It’s the oldest continuously used turf field in Texas.

FEATURED AIRSTRIP: SACATON, NM

By Carmine Mowbray • March 30, 2026

For adventurers seeking access to the Gila Wilderness, we suggest landing at Sacaton Airstrip, NM16, near Buckhorn, New Mexico. The runway lies on a “finger mesa,” and the Rain Creek trailhead lies just northeast of the field. Thanks to RAF New Mexico Liaison Ron Keller's coordination with the USFS using a Cost Share Agreement, Keller was able to organize RAF and New Mexico Pilot Association (NMPA) volunteers to rehabilitate and reopen the long-abandoned airstrip in 2022. Beyond reopening the airstrip, Keller added camping amenities, including picnic tables and a new vault toilet. Most recently, Keller oversaw the installation of new shade structures, most welcoming to campers and hikers. RAF and NMPA volunteers complete ongoing maintenance at Sacaton and other airfields in the Gila National Forest. You’ll see white-painted rocks along Sacaton’s 3,989-ft dirt runway, and surrounding the segmented circle near the RAF windsock. The airstrip lies at 6,200-ft elevation, so pilots should be mindful of density altitude while flying over high terrain in the vicinity, even in winter temperatures. “Anglers will enjoy plying streams for the rare native copper-colored Gila trout, once a threatened species,” Keller reports. The mile-and-a-half trail to the crossing at Rain Creek is narrow and challenging and traverses a variety of terrain, but the serious hiker will be rewarded trekking through steep canyon walls lined with green alder, willow, and boxelder, hoodoos, and eagle aeries above. There are rumors of a double waterfall some distance on the west fork of Rain Creek trail. See the Sacaton page in the Airfield Guide for more details. Note that the airstrip may be unusable due to snow or after heavy rains. This runway should be considered one-way in/one-way out to avoid overflying the Wilderness boundary. There is a 4.6% upslope to the East, favoring landing Runway 08 with right traffic, remaining clear of the Wilderness east and north of the airfield. Please consider others seeking a Wilderness experience. Prior to landing at Sacaton, permission is required by calling the USFS Gila Dispatch center at 800-538-1644. Please familiarize yourself with Sacaton in the Airfield Guide and the New Mexico Pilots Association Safety Briefing . Submitted March 30, 2025 By Carmine Mowbray