Recreation Residence
Recreation residences are privately owned summer cabins on National Forest land, authorized by special use permits that last 20 years. Permit holders pay an annual fee for their permit. They are not authorized for commercial use, as a permanent residence, and do not provide exclusive use of the lot. Some of these recreation residences date back to the early 1900s and represent a time when Americans were being encouraged to enjoy the healthful benefits of a vacation in the National Forests. Because of their age and architecture, many of these cabins are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Currently the Bridger-Teton National Forest has over 130 permitted recreation residences. Nationally, there are over 13,000 permitted recreation residences on National Forest lands.
Project Proposals
Cabin owners must receive written approval from the Forest Service before starting any project that disturbs the soil/vegetation or that affects the exterior of the cabin, as outlined in their special use permit. The first step in the project approval process is to complete and submit a project proposal form. All project proposals should be submitted for review during a period called "Open Season," which lasts from Aug. 1-Oct. 1 every year.
Emergency repairs are an exception and may be submitted year-round. Examples of emergency repairs are proposals that remedy imminent risk to your improvements; to repair damage caused by a fire, tree fall, flood; to address imminent safety or health hazard that unless addressed, would render the recreation residence unusable.
Download the project proposal form below, fill out the required information, and send it to the Bridger-Teton permit administrator at SM.FS.BTSpecialUsePermit@usda.gov.
More Tools & Information
National Historic Preservation Act Recreation Residence FAQs
Because the recreation residence (summer home) tracts were developed on federal lands, compliance with federal law and policies is required. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) directs federal agencies to take into account the effects of its undertakings on historic properties (which are properties that are listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places).
One step in Section 106 process is the federal agency/agency official shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to carry out appropriate identification efforts, which may include background research, consultation, oral history interviews, sample field investigation, and field survey. Resources are identified and researched to determine if they are 50 years old and have integrity. Many of the tracts were developed at the turn of the century and then into the late 1960s, so they are or are approaching 50 years in age. This information is compiled to create a determination of eligibility report which discloses whether a resource is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This report is submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), tribes as part of the consultation process.
Currently, each national forest where summer home groups are located range from having all tracts evaluated to none. The lack of evaluation can increase the compliance timeline for regular activities like the renewal of a special use permit and approval of any proposal to modify or change the exterior appearance of the cabin and any other improvements on the lot, or approval of any ground disturbing activity on the property. Those forests where evaluations are not completed, individual summer homes have been evaluated on a case-by-case basis as projects have been proposed by permit holders. By evaluating all cabins within larger tracts, it will potentially shorten the compliance timeline. Proposed ground disturbing activities on your lot, however, may still require an archaeological survey.
For more information on the Section 106 process, please visit https://www.achp.gov/protecting-historic-properties/section-106-process/introduction-section-106.
No. The evaluation process that resulted in eligible or contributing to a historic district is a consensus determination. Because summer homes sit on federal lands, the Federal Preservation Officer would submit the nomination with support from the local agency official. For more information on the nomination process, visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/how-to-list-a-property.htm.
No. Permit holders still must get advance written approval from the Forest Service for any proposed project that would change the footprint or exterior appearance of the cabin or structural improvement and/or result in any vegetation removal or ground disturbance on the lot. Examples of projects that alter the cabin exterior include changing or adding window or door styles or types (e.g., such as going from wood to metal or vinyl), replacing shiplap siding with T1-11, replacing a shake or composition roof with a metal roof, and the addition of new rooms, dormers and porches. When you are planning your projects, please do not hire any architects or contractors without talking with the permit administrator and heritage professional on your forest. These conversations can generate collaborative conversations that can identify opportunities in your project where the property can remain eligible, and the project will have no effect to the property.
We encourage the owners of eligible lots to consider preservation of historic characteristics through repair and replacement-in-kind project proposals (e.g., replacing a deteriorated shake roof with a new shake roof, replacing wood frame windows with the same style and size of wood frame windows), or by designing their projects in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Rehabilitation.
Should the owner of an eligible cabin elect not to preserve the historic characteristics of their home, the law allows for adverse effects to historic properties and the permit holder will need to fund mitigations that are developed as part of the resolution of adverse effects process which can be lengthy.
Wrong. As with the majority of work to be completed on the summer home property, permit holders must get written approval for any proposed project. See the answer to question 3 above for more information.