Anan Observatory rebuild wins landscape architects award
- Wrangell Sentinel
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
By Sue Bahleda
For the Wrangell Sentinel
A second Wrangell project was honored in this year’s landscape architect awards.
The Anan Wildlife Observatory won an Award of Excellence from the Alaska chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, joining the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial in receiving the honor for 2025.
The award recognizes the new viewing platforms, shelter, boardwalk and stairs by Corvus Design, which worked on the U.S. Forest Service project to improve the facilities at the popular bear-viewing site on the mainland about 30 miles southeast of Wrangell.
The award is the highest level of recognition for the landscape architects society.
A juror’s comments acknowledged the observatory is a “solid, well-detailed design that fits nicely into its place … beautiful and exceptionally well-integrated into context.”
The juror even added: “I want to go there.”
Peter Briggs, of Corvus Design, said that while the Anan observatory was a complete rebuild, there were some existing structures they needed to incorporate into the design, including one wall that also serves as a weir for the fish ladder for returning salmon.
Another critical aspect of the design was planning for bear behavior, creating minimal disruption while allowing the animals to move freely though the site and feed in the creek below.
Briggs said a goal also was to minimize the visual impact of the buildings, using locally sourced cedar that will age with the environment. “The choices were not for any fancy aesthetics,” he said. “They were for nice and simple materials that would feel wild and Alaskan.”
It was a multi-year project. The idea to replace the old observation deck and shelter started around 2017 when some repair work was underway. A contractor said the old deck needed to be stabilized.
Years of planning, design and about $1 million in federal funding later, the new main platform opened in 2022, with new stairs and lower-level viewing platforms added later.
The main viewing deck was replaced with a red cedar deck with a covered area at the back. The cedar came from Icy Straits Lumber in Hoonah on Chichagof Island.
The contractor worked with a wood artisan to construct the braces and dovetail woodwork.
One design change replaced stairs connecting the upper and lower viewing platforms with a spiral all-metal staircase. This reduced the footprint of the structure, aligning the stairs close to the rock face.
A juror noted that the “clean, modern detailing of the staircase is a nice contrast to the natural setting.”
Briggs said not only did they have to consider the design aspect of the spiral structure, but also figure out how to fabricate the staircase and install it at the remote site.
The staircase was built off-site and loaded on a barge. When it got to Anan, it was lifted into place by helicopter. There was real satisfaction in the outcome: It perfectly fit the rock face without having to do any rock removal.
Separate from the award-winning design and rebuild, Wrangell High School students in a technology program installed video cameras at Anan, providing livestreaming of feeding bears online.
The first cameras were installed in 2024, with more added this summer.
The video project was coordinated with the Forest Service and explore.org, an international nonprofit that operates similar wildlife-viewing opportunities around the world.
The students installed solar panels on the observatory roof to power the camera and video screens.
• This story originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.
