Attachment_H_Slana_and_Chitinia.docx

WRST_Attachment H

Slana Ranger Station and Visitor Center 520 words

AD Stop 17, Slana Ranger Station and Visitor Center. 3 ¼ minutes.

Located a short distance down a small state road just south of and running parallel to Nabesna Road, a dark wooden sign at the right with the words “Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve” in white in the center welcomes you to the Slana Ranger Station and Visitor Center.

Note a gravel parking lot in front of the one-story, dark red-brown wood structure with a vaulted triangular roof, and a four-foot (1.25 m) tall vertical log railing lines a six-foot (2 m) wide porch in front. To the left, the covered porch extends around and back to the right, along the left-hand side of the building.

At the center of the building, a 10-foot (2.75 m) wide, slightly inclined wood plank walkway leads up from the parking lot onto the porch across a rubberized carpet in front of a set of double wood and glass doors. A two-foot tall National Park Service logo hangs above the walkway in front. A tall flag pole in front stands about 10 feet (3 m) to the left of the side porch.

A wooden sign hanging on the wall to the left of the front entrance indicates the women’s restroom is located straight ahead, inside the building, while the door to the men’s restroom is located to the left around the corner on the side of the building, about 30 feet (9 m) back from the front porch.

Hanging underneath this sign, note a twenty-four inch (60 cm) wide by 12-inch (30 cm) high wooden box with a number of park brochures, information sheets, and maps.

Note a telephone located around the corner, hanging along the left side of the building, about 15 feet (4.5 m) back from the front porch, just past an information display case on the right. In an emergency, please call 9-1-1. Know that you are at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Slana Ranger Station on the Nabesna Road in Slana, AK. Otherwise, to contact the Nabesna Ranger, please call NPS Dispatch at (907) 683-9555.

A side door to the ranger station is located just beyond the telephone on the right, past a window in the side of the building, and the door to the men’s restroom is about six feet (2 m) further on past the side door on the right.

Opposite the men’s room door, on the other side of the porch, a 10-foot (2.75 m) wide set of three wooden stairs with a wooden railing at the left and right lead down from the porch to a staff gravel parking area.

Inside the ranger station, there’s an information desk at the immediate left where visitors can get federal subsistence permits, hunting and fishing permits, ATV/UTV permits, road condition information, and participate in the Junior Ranger program. There’s a bookstore straight ahead, and a study area with WiFi and a table and chairs at the right.

Note the women’s restroom is located about 15 feet (4.5 m) straight back from the front door, through a single wooden doorway, about four feet (1.25 m) to the left.

Chitina Ranger Station 394 words

AD Stop 43, Chitina Ranger Station. 2 ½ minutes.

Located at the end of the paved Edgerton Highway and the beginning of the gravel McCarthy Road, a six-foot (2 m) tall wooden sign with the National Park Service logo welcomes you to the one-story log cabin Chitina Ranger Station.

Note the station is only open during the season from Thursday through Sunday from 10:00AM to 4:30PM. An eight-foot tall wooden information bulletin board and kiosk stands outside at the side of the building near the front.

At the far end of the cabin, a set of five, five-foot (1.5 m) wide wooden stairs with wooden handrails on either side lead up to a five-foot (1.5 m) wooden platform and the front screen door of the station. The screen door opens out and the inside wooden door opens in. To the right of the door, note a narrow wooden box with a hinged lid hanging on the side of the building with brochures and other park information.

Inside, the log cabin station is decorated with historic photographs featuring the town of Chitina as a transportation hub, "where the rails meet the trails." Trains, stagecoaches, dog sleds, and steamboats all passed through Chitina on their way to the mining and commerce centers of Alaska during Chitina's boom years, 1910-1938. You can watch the 22-minute park movie "Crown of the Continent", and view the many photos that depict early life in Chitina. Hikers can obtain information regarding backcountry routes, file trip plans, and obtain bear resistant food containers. Federal subsistence fishing permits and fishwheel registration is also available at this location.

Facing the front door, wooden platform continues about eight feet (2.5 m) to the right, then turns left down a 20-foot (6 m) long wheelchair-accessible ramp along the far side of the building. Note there is only a shallow, two-inch (5 cm) tall lip on either side of the ramp, and no handrails.

At the end of the ramp, note a small, two-inch (5 cm) drop down from the wood ramp onto a gently sloping gravel path, leading to the side door of the station, with a second set of wooden stairs.

There are a couple picnic tables on a wide grassy area across the small curved one-lane driveway in front of the station, and a couple bear-proof garbage cans at the head of the driveway.

image1.png image2.png