Tongass National Forest

About Tongass National Forest

At 17 million acres (69,000 km²), the Tongass National Forest (IPA: /ˈtɑŋgəs/) in southeastern Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States. It is a temperate rain forest within the Pacific temperate rain forest zone, and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. Tongass encompasses islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords, glaciers, and peaks of the Coastal Range mountains. An international border with Canada (British Columbia) runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains (see also: Alaska boundary dispute).

The Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve was established by Theodore Roosevelt in a presidential proclamation of 20 August 1902. Another presidential proclamation made by Roosevelt, on 10 September 1907, created the Tongass National Forest. On 1 July 1908, the two forests were joined, with the combined forest area encompassing most of southeast Alaska. Further presidential proclamations of 16 February 1909 (in the last months of the Roosevelt administration) and 10 June, and in 1925 (by Calvin Coolidge) expanded the National Forest. An early supervisor of the forest was William Alexander Langille.

The Tongass National Forest is home to about 75,000 people who are dependent on the land for their livelihoods. Several Alaska Native tribes live throughout Southeast Alaska, such as the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. 31 communities are located within the forest; the largest is Juneau, the state capital, with a population of 31,000. The forest is named for the Tongass group of the Tlingit people, who inhabited the southernmost areas of the Alaska panhandle near what is now Ketchikan.