Tongass National Forest
Interesting facts
- The Tongass is the largest national forest in the United States, covering nearly 17 million acres.
- It is considered the largest intact temperate rainforest on Earth.
- The forest is named after the Tongass, a group of Tlingit people from the Ketchikan area.
- Theodore Roosevelt created the Tongass National Forest by proclamation in 1907.
- The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center near Juneau, opened in 1962, was the first visitor centre in the US National Forest System.
- Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island national monuments both lie within the Tongass.
- The Tongass contains 19 designated wilderness areas, more than any other US national forest.
Why it is worth it
The Tongass is less a forest than a whole coastline. It covers almost the entire Alaska Panhandle, nearly 17 million acres of islands, fjords, icefields and mountains along the Pacific, and it is by far the largest national forest in the United States, bigger than several US states. Most of its wooded land is temperate rainforest of Sitka spruce, western hemlock and western red cedar, soaked by rain off the Gulf of Alaska, and it is regarded as the largest intact temperate rainforest left on Earth.
The landscape is built from water as much as land. The forest takes in the Alexander Archipelago's maze of islands and channels, deep glacial fjords such as Tracy Arm, and the summits of the Coast Mountains along the border with British Columbia. Glaciers still pour off the icefields, among them the Mendenhall Glacier just outside Juneau, where the Forest Service opened its first visitor centre anywhere in 1962. Two national monuments lie within the Tongass: Misty Fjords, a wilderness of granite cliffs and waterfalls near Ketchikan, and Admiralty Island, famous for its brown bears. In all, the forest contains 19 designated wilderness areas, more than any other national forest.
Life here moves between sea and forest. Five species of Pacific salmon run up its streams, feeding brown and black bears and bald eagles; humpback whales and orcas work the straits offshore. The land has been home for thousands of years to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples, and the forest takes its name from the Tongass, a Tlingit group from the area around today's Ketchikan. Theodore Roosevelt first protected part of the region as a forest reserve in 1902 and created the Tongass National Forest in 1907; the two were merged the following year and later expanded to cover most of Southeast Alaska.
Getting there
The Tongass has no single entrance; most of its towns, Juneau included, sit on islands and inlets with no road link to the rest of North America and are reached by air or sea. Petersburg, on Mitkof Island at the heart of the forest, makes a natural gateway and has its own airport, Petersburg James A. Johnson (PSG), close to town. Juneau, the state capital and the largest community within the forest, lies about 190 km north-west of Petersburg and is served by Juneau International Airport (JNU). Ships of the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system connect Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Sitka and other towns through the Inside Passage.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at 16.7 million acres, an expanse larger than 10 U.S. states and 75 U.N. member nations. Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is managed by the United States Forest Service, encompasses islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords and glaciers, and peaks of the Coast Mountains. An international border with Canada runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The forest is administered from Forest Service headquarters offices in Ketchikan. There are local ranger district offices located in Craig, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell, and Yakutat.
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