Have you ever been hiking through a national forest and stumbled upon a small, quaint, old cabin tucked in the woods? Chances are that cabin owner is essentially leasing the land under the cabin from Uncle Sam. Well, now those bucolic cabins may be driven to extinction by the very same government that encouraged them to be built. Back in 1915, people either lived on the farm or in big cities. Few Americans recreated in the national forests let alone live there. Congress wanted our public lands to be used by the public so it lured people to the woods with the Recreation Residence program.

Turns out it worked too well. Thousands of Americans built their tiny vacation cabins, but then others started scooping up adjacent private land and building mcmansion cabins. That has led the feds to think their cabin tenants were getting too sweet of a deal. Congress passed a law calling for new assessments. The result has led to sticker shock. Take the Minard family in Lake Wenatchee, Washington. On top of local property tax and a state tax, they have been paying $1,400 year to the U.S. government. Now that fee has spiked to $17,000 per year. The Minards can’t afford that and nobody wants to buy the cabin when they learn of the fee. So they’re left with only one option…pay to have the cabin demolished, return the forest to its natural state and walk away from five generations of memories.