Hot tubs, bears and trails:

WRANGELL-The U.S. Forest Service got to most of its Wrangell-area work projects this past summer, with one big job pushed into next spring.

The Anan Wildlife Observatory— which has reached the end of “its structural lifetime and needs replacement,” the agency’s website says — was supposed to be torn down in October, Corree Delabrue, U.S. Forest Service information assistant at the Wrangell Ranger District, said.

Tory Houser, the recreation, lands, minerals and heritage staff officer for the Wrangell and Petersburg Ranger Districts, said deconstruction and rebuilding of a new observatory has be...