Hoonah Sound

Hoonah Sound covers 79,764 acres on western Chichagof Island in the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska. The terrain is mountainous and alpine, with Pinnacle Peak (3,104 ft) and Rust Mountain (2,175 ft) rising above an island-and-channel coast that includes Moser Island, Emmons Island, Arthur Island, and a sequence of named coastal projections — White Cliff Point, Sergius Point, Shoal Point, Pedersen Point, and Rapids Point. The South Arm Hoonah Sound watershed gathers rain and snowmelt off these mountains and delivers it to the sound through the Black River, Leo Creek, Marble Creek, and Range Creek. The hydrology connects alpine snowfields above the treeline directly to estuarine tidal meadows at sea level.

The dominant lowland forest is Western Hemlock - Sitka Spruce Forest, with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) carrying the canopy and devil's club (Oplopanax horridus) tangling the understory. Alaska yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis) holds the wetter, slightly higher benches. Above roughly 2,000 feet, Mountain Hemlock Subalpine Forest of mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) thins toward Alpine Tundra, where stunted vegetation rings the upper slopes of Pinnacle Peak. On flat, poorly drained terraces, Mixed Conifer Muskeg supports oval-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium), deer-cabbage (Nephrophyllidium crista-galli), and the white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata), an IUCN-vulnerable species. Deciduous Riparian Forest lines the creek bottoms with salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), and Estuarine Tidal Meadow grades into saltwater at the heads of the sound's named points.

The forest supports a vertically distributed wildlife community. Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) ascend the Black River and the named creeks each summer and fall, drawing brown bear (Ursus arctos) into streamside gravels and bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) onto the spruce snags above. The IUCN endangered marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) nests on moss-covered limbs of old-growth Sitka spruce inland and forages in the surrounding marine waters. Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), listed by the IUCN as vulnerable, haul out on the rocks off the points; humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and orca (Orcinus orca) pass through the sound. Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) hold the alpine, and Pacific banana slugs (Ariolimax columbianus) work the forest floor below. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A walk from a creek mouth at the head of South Arm Hoonah Sound moves quickly out of an estuarine tidal meadow and into the dense understory of devil's club and salmonberry along the Black River. The canopy of Sitka spruce and western hemlock closes overhead, the light dropping to a wet half-shade. Higher, the muskeg opens beneath thinning yellow cedar; bog orchids and deer-cabbage mark the saturated peat. Above 2,000 feet the forest thins into mountain hemlock and stunted alpine, with the sound and its named islands visible below.

Hoonah Sound lies on western Chichagof Island in the Tongass National Forest, within the Sitka Ranger District [3]. The history of this stretch of coast is bound to two peoples whose presence is far older than any timber or mining record kept here.

The ancestors of the Huna Lingít have occupied the islands and inlets of northern Southeast Alaska since long before the last glacial advance [1]. There were people living over 9,000 years ago at nearby Groundhog Bay [1]. Around 1700 a long-stationary glacier in present-day Glacier Bay surged forward and overran Lingít settlements [1]. The clans survived by dispersing through Icy Strait, Excursion Inlet, and northern Chichagof Island, and eventually resettled in the village of Xunniyaa — "shelter from the north wind" — today known as Hoonah [1]. Hoonah is the principal village of the Huna Tlingit tribe, which has occupied the area for centuries, and is the largest Tlingit village in southeast Alaska [3]. It is also the largest Tlingit Native community in the world and the principal village for the Xunaa Káawu, the indigenous people of Hoonah [2].

Federal designation of these forests began with Theodore Roosevelt. On August 20, 1902, Proclamation 491 reserved Chichagof Island and the adjacent islands to the seaward thereof, together with Kupreanof, Kuiu, Zarembo, and Prince of Wales Islands, as the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve [4]. Five years later, on September 10, 1907, President Roosevelt established the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska on the recommendation of forest supervisor W. A. Langille and F. E. Olmsted, the forest inspector sent out from Washington, D.C. [5]. The lands of present-day Hoonah Sound passed from the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve into the Tongass through this consolidation.

Southeast Alaska was inundated with gold miners in the nineteenth century, and West Chichagof was a popular destination, with thousands of prospectors thought to have combed the valleys and mountain sides looking for gold in the late 1800s [6]. Mining continued for the next one-hundred years or so; the last working stake on West Chichagof shut down in the 1980s [6]. At one time the West Chichagof mine and the associated community were larger than Sitka [6]. Industrial-scale clearcut logging in the postwar Tongass prompted Sitka residents in 1967 to organize against the practice on West Chichagof and Yakobi Islands [7]. Their effort produced a citizen-led wilderness proposal that became the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness Area under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 [7]. The 79,764-acre Hoonah Sound Inventoried Roadless Area, in the Sitka Ranger District of the Tongass National Forest, is today managed under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Old-Growth Structural Complexity for Marbled Murrelet: Without internal roads or industrial logging, the Western Hemlock - Sitka Spruce Forest of Hoonah Sound retains the large old-growth limb structure that the IUCN endangered marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) requires for nesting. The same closed-canopy forest supports the deep-shade microclimate, large woody debris recruitment, and complex vertical structure that distinguish Tongass old growth from logged-over second growth.

• Cold Headwater Stream Integrity: The South Arm Hoonah Sound watershed delivers cold rain and snowmelt to the sound through the Black River, Leo Creek, Marble Creek, and Range Creek. With forested slopes intact, these waters retain the shaded, low-sediment gravels that pink and coho salmon need to spawn, and they deliver marine-derived nutrients from returning fish back into the surrounding forest.

• Alpine-to-Estuary Elevational Connectivity: Within the area, hydrology and habitat are continuous from Alpine Tundra around Pinnacle Peak (3,104 ft) down through Mountain Hemlock Subalpine Forest, Mixed Conifer Muskeg, and Western Hemlock - Sitka Spruce Forest to Estuarine Tidal Meadow at sea level. This unbroken elevational gradient is the corridor along which brown bear, mule deer, and amphibians shift seasonally and along which climate-driven range shifts will move.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Loss of marbled murrelet nesting habitat from old-growth fragmentation: A road through Western Hemlock - Sitka Spruce Forest converts contiguous old-growth canopy into linear edge habitat. The edge effect dries soils, exposes interior canopy to windthrow, and increases predation pressure on nesting marbled murrelets, whose IUCN status reflects population declines driven in significant part by loss of old-growth nesting structure.

• Sedimentation and stream temperature shifts in salmon-bearing creeks: Cut slopes and unstable fill on Tongass logging roads chronically deliver fine sediment into receiving streams, smothering the clean gravels that pink and coho salmon require to spawn. Loss of riparian canopy at road crossings raises summer water temperatures, and undersized or perched culverts block adult salmon from upstream reaches; these hydrological and thermal changes can persist for decades after a road is closed.

• Hydrological disruption of Mixed Conifer Muskeg: Roads built across the area's muskeg terraces require fill that compacts and de-waters peat, while ditching alters the saturated conditions that support white bog orchid and deer-cabbage. Drainage changes propagate beyond the road footprint, lowering the surrounding water table and converting low-productivity peatland into a different, drier system. Because peat accumulates over thousands of years, the original wetland hydrology and carbon function are effectively irreversible within management timescales.

Hoonah Sound covers 79,764 acres on western Chichagof Island in the Tongass National Forest, within the Sitka Ranger District. There are no roads, designated trails, trailheads, or developed campgrounds within the area; access is by boat from Sitka, Hoonah, or Pelican, with anchorages along Peril Strait and Hoonah Sound itself. Recreation is dispersed and self-supported. Visitors arrive at the heads of named points — White Cliff Point, Sergius Point, Shoal Point, Pedersen Point, Rapids Point — and plan inland routes up the Black River, Leo Creek, Marble Creek, and Range Creek toward Pinnacle Peak (3,104 ft) and Rust Mountain (2,175 ft).

Saltwater and freshwater fishing The Black River and the smaller creeks draining the South Arm Hoonah Sound watershed carry runs of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), and chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). Anglers also work the saltwater of Peril Strait, Sergius Narrows, and the sound itself for Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger), yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus), and Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus). Sergius Narrows requires careful attention to tide changes; currents at peak flow are very strong. All Alaska state fishing regulations apply, and a current Alaska sport fishing license is required.

Hunting Brown bear (Ursus arctos) range throughout the roadless interior, moving to streamside gravels during salmon runs. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) — known regionally as Sitka black-tailed deer — work the riparian forest and muskeg edges. Hunters mount multi-day, boat-based trips from anchorages on the sound, landing at creek mouths and packing inland. Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations and game management unit boundaries govern season dates, bag limits, and licensing; brown bear hunting in particular has strict tag and reporting requirements.

Sea kayaking and small-boat paddling Hoonah Sound offers sheltered paddling among the island-protected channels around Moser, Emmons, and Arthur Islands. Sergius Narrows, however, runs hazardous current and is a passage to time carefully rather than to play with. Sea kayakers move along forested shorelines under Sitka spruce and Alaska yellow cedar, land at creek mouths, and continue inland on foot.

Wildlife and bird observation Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and orca (Orcinus orca) move through the sound during summer feeding. Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) haul out on the rocks off the sound's named points; harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) frequent the open waters. Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nest in the older spruce along the shoreline, and the IUCN endangered marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) flies between the open water and nesting sites in old-growth Sitka spruce inland. Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) and varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius) reach the inland forests in spring; rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) hold the upper slopes near Pinnacle Peak.

Dispersed backcountry travel Without trails, off-route travel requires route-finding through Western Hemlock - Sitka Spruce Forest, around Mixed Conifer Muskeg terraces, and up into Mountain Hemlock Subalpine Forest and Alpine Tundra near the summit of Pinnacle Peak. The understory is thick with devil's club (Oplopanax horridus) and salmonberry along the lower slopes; most parties keep to creek-side benches when ascending.

The recreation here is fundamentally tied to the area's roadless condition. With no internal road network and no industrial-scale logging, the area preserves the old-growth murrelet nesting habitat, the unfragmented brown bear range, the spawning gravels of the Black River, and the quiet shorelines where humpback whales, orca, and Steller sea lions return each season. Each activity above — fishing, hunting, paddling, wildlife viewing, dispersed backcountry travel — would be measurably reduced by the sedimentation, fragmentation, and disturbance that road construction would introduce.