The U.S. Forest Service has awarded a contract for repair of the Zarembo Island dock and causeway damaged in a December 2024 windstorm which had shut down the well-used facility at Roosevelt Harbor.

“We anticipate having a fixed dock by the next hunting season,” Tory Houser, Wrangell District ranger, said Nov. 26.

Roosevelt Harbor is a popular access point to Zarembo for deer hunters and recreation users. There is a parking area and road access to the Forest Service Deep Bay public-use cabin.

The federal agency awarded a $159,397 repair contract to Carver Construction, a 30-year-old Juneau-based contractor.

Work will include repairing the wooden causeway and repairing the rotted and rusted attachments that connect the floating dock to pilings, Houser said.

The Forest Service and Carver Construction have held their pre-work meeting to review the job, and the contractor has been to the site to scope out what’s needed.

“We’re excited that this is moving forward,” Houser said.

The causeway was split in two after a tree ripped through its planking and railing in a December 2024 windstorm.

Though the dock and its causeway to shore have been out of commission, a loading ramp allows access to the island for boats that can pull up at the site.

The same dock was damaged in a 2022 windstorm — almost the same week two years earlier than the 2024 storm. The 2022 damage was repaired in the summer of 2024.

“Who would have thought those trees … were going to fall exactly so that they squished through the gangway,” Houser said in December 2024 of the repeat storm damage. “I don’t know if anybody could anticipate that.”