Chichagof

The Chichagof roadless area encompasses 555,858 acres of mountainous terrain in the Tongass National Forest, with Apex Mountain rising to 3,343 feet and El Nido Peak reaching 3,140 feet. This landscape drains into multiple watersheds through a network of named streams: Pelican Creek, the Lisianski River, Kadashan River, Neka River, Bohemia Creek, Mud Bay River, Corner Creek, and Basket Creek form the hydrologic skeleton of the area. Water originates in the high country and moves downslope through deep valleys, creating the conditions that define the forest communities below.

The dominant forest type is Western Hemlock–Sitka Spruce Forest, where these two conifers form a dense canopy that filters light to the understory. At higher elevations, this transitions to Mountain Hemlock forest with an understory of Alaska Blueberry and other ericaceous shrubs. In areas of poor drainage and high moisture, Sitka Spruce dominates over peat moss, creating a distinctive Sitka Spruce / Peat Moss community. Red Alder forms shrubland and early-successional forest in disturbed areas and along stream corridors. At the highest elevations, subalpine and alpine meadows replace forest entirely. Throughout these communities, the understory and forest floor support characteristic species: Devil's Club in moist coves, Deer Fern beneath hemlock, Western Skunk Cabbage in seeps, and the delicate Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper in specific microsites. Stairstep Moss and Lettuce Lichen carpet the forest floor and tree boles, indicating the region's high humidity and clean air.

Brown bears move through these forests seasonally, following salmon runs up the named creeks and feeding on berries in the understory. Bald eagles hunt from perches overlooking streams and coastal waters. The federally endangered Short-tailed albatross and the endangered Marbled Murrelet, both seabirds dependent on this coastal forest, represent the connection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In the streams themselves, pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) return to spawn, supporting both terrestrial predators and the aquatic food web. The endangered Sea Otter hunts in nearshore waters, while the endangered Pinto Abalone occupies rocky intertidal zones. Sitka Black-tailed Deer browse the understory throughout the area, and American Red Squirrels harvest seeds from the conifers.

Walking through Chichagof, a visitor experiences the landscape as a series of ecological transitions. Following one of the named creeks—Basket Creek or Corner Creek—upslope, the forest darkens as hemlock and spruce close overhead, and the understory thickens with Devil's Club and salmonberry. The sound of water intensifies as the creek steepens. Breaking out of the forest onto a ridgeline, the view opens to subalpine meadows and the peaks beyond, with the dense forest falling away below. Descending a different drainage, the forest composition shifts again: peat moss squelches underfoot, and the air grows even more saturated. These transitions—from dense cove forest to open ridge, from hemlock-dominated slopes to spruce-peat communities—reveal how elevation, aspect, and hydrology sculpt the forest's structure across the roadless area.

The Tlingit Nation inhabited Chichagof Island for thousands of years. The Sitka Tlingit occupied the southern and western portions of the island, while the Huna Tlingit, composed of four primary clans—Chookaneidí, Kaagwaantaan, T'akdeintaan, and Wooshkeetaan—historically centered on the northern and eastern portions. The Huna Tlingit were forced to migrate to Chichagof Island approximately 300 years ago due to rapid glacial advancement during the Little Ice Age, settling at Hoonah, or Xunaa. Tlingit society organized itself into matrilineal clans and houses, with specific clans holding exclusive rights to certain streams and harvesting areas. The Tlingit practiced semi-sedentary management of fisheries and forests, harvesting all five species of Pacific salmon, halibut, herring, and other marine resources, hunting Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bears, and gathering seaweed, berries, and shellfish. The island contains sacred sites and at.óow—sacred property including ancestral burial sites and locations tied to oral histories and crests. Historical settlements including Hoonah and Tenakee Springs remain active Tlingit communities, and the forest contains heritage resources such as ancient fish weirs and village sites.

The Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, the precursor to the Tongass National Forest, was established by President Theodore Roosevelt via presidential proclamation on August 20, 1902, and included Chichagof Island. The Tongass National Forest was officially established by President Theodore Roosevelt through a presidential proclamation on September 10, 1907. On July 1, 1908, the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve and the Tongass National Forest were merged into a single entity under the name Tongass National Forest. These actions were taken under the authority of the Creative Act of 1891, also known as the Forest Reserve Act, which allowed the President to set aside public lands as forest reserves. Formal legislation declaring it a national forest was signed into law in 1909, and the forest was subsequently expanded to encompass most of the Southeast Alaska panhandle. In 1935, Executive Order 7179 excluded land on the north shore of Tenakee Inlet, Chichagof Island, for an Indian settlement.

Industrial extraction transformed portions of the landscape beginning in the early twentieth century. The Pacific Coast Gypsum Company operated a major mine at Iyoukeen Cove on eastern Chichagof Island from approximately 1902 to 1923, including a steam-powered railroad running approximately one mile from the mine's shaft headframe to a 2,000-foot wharf extending into the cove. The Hirst-Chichagof Mine operated at full capacity from 1922 to 1933 and continued until 1943, producing approximately 131,000 ounces of gold and 33,000 ounces of silver. Mining reached depths of 1,800 feet below sea level and explored over a mile of the Hirst Fault. The operation supported a crew of up to 500 people during its peak and included a mill, a framing shed, a sawmill, and a boardwalk system connecting industrial buildings. Most mining operations on the island, including the Hirst-Chichagof, were suspended in 1943 due to wartime labor and resource shortages under Limitation Order L-208, which closed non-essential gold mines.

Large-scale logging intensified in the 1950s following the establishment of long-term timber contracts. In 1957, the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company, a Japanese-owned firm, signed a fifty-year contract for 5.25 billion board feet of timber, with primary sale areas including portions of Chichagof Island. This contract represented the first major foreign investment by Japan after World War II. The contract supported the construction of a major pulp mill in nearby Sitka, which became operational in 1959. The Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 modified management boundaries by creating buffer zones around salmon streams and placing limits on industrial logging.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act designated approximately 5.4 million acres within the Tongass as protected wilderness areas in 1980. The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protected approximately 9.3 million acres of the Tongass from new road construction, making Chichagof a focal point of national conservation policy. This protection has been the subject of multiple legal and political reversals between 2001 and 2023, as successive administrations issued executive orders both rescinding and reinstating roadless protections. The Hoonah Indian Association and Sitka Tribe of Alaska, federally recognized tribal governments, actively advocate for the protection of these roadless areas to preserve customary and traditional uses. Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, approximately 632,000 acres of the Tongass were transferred to private Alaska Native Corporations, including Sealaska Corporation.

Vital Resources Protected

Headwater Networks Supporting Pacific Salmon Fisheries

The Chichagof IRA contains the headwaters of the Pelican Creek, Lisianski River, Kadashan River, Neka River, and other major drainages that support world-class salmon populations. These watersheds are classified as "Properly Functioning" under the USFS Watershed Condition Framework—a status directly linked to the area's roadless condition. The intact riparian canopy of Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce forest maintains cold-water conditions essential for spawning, and the absence of roads means these drainages remain free of the chronic sedimentation that degrades spawning substrate in roaded watersheds across the Tongass.

Climate Refuge Connectivity for Cold-Water Species

Chichagof functions as a climate stronghold, with glacial runoff providing cold-water pulses that sustain species like the Kittlitz's Murrelet and Pacific salmon during warming periods. The area's elevation gradient—from sea level to Apex Mountain at 3,343 feet—creates a "glacier-to-sea" corridor that allows species to track suitable thermal conditions as climate shifts. The old-growth canopy of the Western Hemlock–Sitka Spruce forest and subalpine Mountain Hemlock zones provides a cooling effect on stream temperatures; road construction and associated timber removal would eliminate this buffering capacity, trapping cold-water species in warming streams with no refuge upslope.

Interior Forest Habitat for Marbled Murrelet and Brown Bear

The Chichagof IRA protects nearly 50% of the remaining high-value brown bear habitat in East Chichagof, a region with one of the world's highest bear densities. The area also provides critical nesting habitat for the Marbled Murrelet (endangered, IUCN), which requires old-growth forest interior—specifically the large, moss-laden branches of mature Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock trees. Road construction fragments this interior habitat, creating edge effects that expose murrelets to predation and reduce the contiguous forest patches necessary for viable populations. Brown bears lose access to salmon streams and berry-producing subalpine meadows when roads bisect their home ranges.

Wetland-Upland Transition Zones Supporting Rare Orchids

The Sitka Spruce / Peat Moss community and Red Alder shrubland-forest mosaics within the IRA create hydrologically intact wetland-upland transitions that support vulnerable plant species including Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium passerinum), white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata), and Menzies' Burnet (Sanguisorba menziesii). These species depend on stable water tables and undisturbed soil structure; road fill and drainage associated with road construction would alter groundwater flow, desiccating these specialized habitats and eliminating the only populations of these species in the region.

Threats from Road Construction

Sedimentation and Loss of Spawning Substrate in Salmon Streams

Road construction on Chichagof's steep mountainous terrain would require extensive cut slopes and fill placement, generating chronic erosion that enters the drainage network through surface runoff and subsurface seepage. This sediment smothers the gravel spawning beds that salmon require for reproduction, reducing egg survival and recruitment. The Tongass already contains 1,136 "RED" culvert crossings—fish passage barriers created by road construction—that have obliterated fish habitat in adjacent roaded watersheds; the same mechanism would operate in Chichagof, where road-stream crossings would either block migration entirely or generate sedimentation plumes that extend downstream, degrading habitat far beyond the road footprint itself.

Canopy Removal and Stream Temperature Increase

Road construction requires clearing the riparian forest canopy along the road corridor and at stream crossings to accommodate drainage and visibility. This removal eliminates the shade that maintains cold-water conditions in spawning streams, causing water temperatures to rise—a direct threat to cold-water species including Pacific salmon and the federally endangered Short-tailed Albatross (which depends on healthy salmon populations as a food source). In a climate refuge area like Chichagof, where thermal refugia are already constrained by warming regional temperatures, the loss of riparian shade removes one of the few mechanisms that allows cold-water species to persist as climate changes.

Habitat Fragmentation and Loss of Interior Forest Connectivity

Road construction fragments the unfragmented interior forest that the Marbled Murrelet (endangered, IUCN) requires for nesting and that brown bears require for movement between salmon streams, berry meadows, and denning sites. Roads create edge effects—increased predation, invasive species colonization, and human disturbance—that penetrate into the surrounding forest. The Chichagof IRA currently contains nearly 50% of remaining high-value brown bear habitat in East Chichagof; roads would subdivide this habitat into isolated patches too small to support viable populations, forcing bears into human-occupied areas and increasing "defense-of-life" kills. For the Marbled Murrelet, fragmentation reduces the probability of finding suitable nesting trees and increases nest predation rates.

Invasive Species Establishment via Road Corridors

Road construction creates a disturbed corridor—compacted soil, exposed mineral substrate, and chronic disturbance from traffic—that serves as the primary vector for invasive plant and animal species. USFS and National Wildlife Federation assessments identify roads as the mechanism by which invasive species spread into roadless areas. The Chichagof IRA currently acts as a bulwark against invasive colonization; once roads are constructed, invasive plants (such as Sitka willow and non-native grasses) would establish in the road corridor and spread into adjacent forest, displacing native vegetation that supports vulnerable species like Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper and white bog orchid. Invasive predators and competitors would similarly use roads to access previously isolated populations of native species, including sea otters (endangered, IUCN) and Pinto Abalone (endangered, IUCN) in nearshore waters accessible via road-based human activity.

The Chichagof roadless area encompasses 555,858 acres of mountainous terrain on Tongass National Forest, rising to Apex Mountain at 3,343 feet and El Nido Peak at 3,140 feet. Access is by boat or floatplane from the gateway communities of Hoonah, Pelican, and Tenakee Springs. The area's recreation opportunities depend entirely on its roadless condition—the absence of roads preserves the wild salmon streams, intact forest habitat, and undisturbed watersheds that support hunting, fishing, birding, paddling, and photography.

Hunting

Chichagof Island supports one of the world's highest concentrations of brown bears, estimated at 1–2 bears per square mile. Brown bear hunting occurs in spring (late February through March) and fall (beginning September) within Game Management Unit 4. Nonresidents must be accompanied by an Alaska-licensed guide or a resident relative. The Northeast Chichagof Controlled Use Area, covering the island north of Tenakee Inlet and east of the drainage divide from Gull Cove to Port Frederick Portage, is closed to motorized land vehicles for brown bear hunting. The Port Althorp Closed Area prohibits brown bear harvest. Sitka black-tailed deer are the most popular game species, hunted August 1 through December 31 (or January 31 under federal subsistence regulations). GMU 4 has the highest hunter success rate for Sitka black-tailed deer in Southeast Alaska, averaging 2.5 days per harvest. Sooty grouse inhabit the roadless forests and are available for upland bird hunting. Small game and furbearers include American red squirrel, mink, and Pacific marten. Mountain goat hunting is available through guided hunts. All brown bear hunting requires a registration permit; deer hunting requires a harvest ticket. Wounding a brown bear counts against your bag limit, and shooting bears, wolves, or wolverines from a boat is prohibited. Hunters access the area by boat through Port Frederick, Tenakee Inlet, and Hoonah Sound, or by floatplane to remote alpine lakes and coastal drop-off points. The Kennel Creek Cabin and Pinta Cove Shelter provide field bases for extended hunts.

Fishing

The Neka River supports Arctic char, Chinook salmon, Chum salmon, and Coho salmon. The Lisianski River and inlet area hold Silver (Coho) salmon, Sockeye salmon, Chum salmon, Pink salmon, and Dolly Varden char. These are wild, self-sustaining stocks—the roadless condition protects critical salmon habitat and undisturbed spawning streams. Dolly Varden enter fresh water in early July and are notably aggressive during the first two weeks. Silver salmon load into sloughs from mid-July through late October, often schooling in bays and moving upstream on high tides or after rain. An 8-weight fly rod is recommended for Silver salmon in sloughs. All anglers 16 and older (nonresidents) or 18 and older (residents) must carry a valid Alaska sport fishing license. Nonresidents must record harvests of King salmon and Lingcod in ink on their license. Pelican, known as "closest to the fish," is the primary jumping-off point for the Lisianski River. Hoonah provides access to the Neka River and eastern Chichagof watersheds. The Lisianski Inlet Lodge, two miles northwest of Pelican, offers beach and boat access to nearby river systems. Most fishing areas are accessible only by boat or floatplane. Peak fishing season runs mid-May through early September.

Birding

The roadless area supports Marbled Murrelets at some of the highest densities in the world, along with Kittlitz's Murrelets in glacier-to-sea corridors. Spruce grouse inhabit the old-growth forests; Northern Goshawks are resident in intact forest tracts. Trumpeter swans nest at Pavlof Marsh, a remote wetland accessible by the Pavlof Marsh Trail, approximately 32.4 miles from Hoonah. The Neka Hot Springs boardwalk, a 0.2-mile accessible walk through muskeg habitat near milepost 9 on Forest Road 8580, provides wildlife and bird viewing. The Lower Suntaheen River Trailhead features an accessible viewing platform for observing birds during salmon season. Spring migration brings hundreds of thousands of shorebirds to Southeast Alaska; summer breeding concentrates tens of thousands of colonial seabirds along the coast. The Kennel Creek Cabin serves as a base camp for birders exploring Pavlof Marsh and surrounding roadless tracts. The roadless condition preserves the old-growth forest interior and undisturbed wetlands that these species depend on.

Paddling

Sea kayaking dominates paddling recreation in the area's protected inlets and coastal waters. The Lisianski River estuary is popular for viewing salmon and bears by kayak. Port Frederick and Tenakee Inlet are documented as a "paddler's paradise" suitable for all skill levels; a historic portage at the head of Port Frederick allows crossing between these two major water bodies. The Neka River flows into Neka Bay on Port Frederick and is used for paddling and fishing. Kadashan River, Basket Creek, and Corner Creek (flowing into Corner Bay) support canoeing and kayaking. The mouth of Goulding River in Goulding Harbor is a documented sea kayak destination for viewing salmon runs and brown bears. Pelican is the primary hub for paddlers on the northwest coast; kayaks can be rented here to access Lisianski Inlet and Bohemia Creek on adjacent Yakobi Island. Hoonah is the starting point for expeditions into Port Frederick and the portage to Tenakee Springs. Bohemia Basin Dock, seven miles northwest of Pelican, serves as a drop-off point. White Sulphur Hot Springs is used as a drop-off for remote outer-coast expeditions. Many river mouths and lakes are accessible only at extreme high tide. Peak paddling season runs mid-May through early September. The roadless condition preserves the quiet, undisturbed estuaries and intact salmon streams that make these waters valuable for paddling.

Photography

Hoonah Sound features glacier-to-sea corridors with views from glacier-capped peaks through old-growth forests to ocean estuaries. The West Chichagof-Yakobi area rises abruptly from the ocean to 3,600 feet, offering views of the Alexander Archipelago's mountainous backbone. Subalpine and alpine meadows display wildflowers including Shooting Stars and Yellow Silverweed, peaking in June and July. Chichagof Island's brown bear concentration—one bear per square mile—provides exceptional wildlife photography opportunities, particularly in early September when bears congregate in watersheds to chase salmon. Humpback whales and sea lion rookeries at White Sister Islands are visible from coastal waters. Bald eagles nest in high densities along river corridors during salmon migrations. The Marbled Murrelet and Kittlitz's Murrelet provide specialized birding photography. The Tongass National Forest offers premier stargazing and aurora viewing from late August through early April, with the darkest skies between September and March due to minimal light pollution. The roadless condition preserves the dark skies, intact old-growth forests, and undisturbed wildlife behavior that make photography here distinctive.