Outer Islands

The Outer Islands Inventoried Roadless Area encompasses 99,862 acres of island and coastal terrain at the western margin of Alaska's Alexander Archipelago, within Tongass National Forest. The area includes Noyes Island, Baker Island, San Juan Bautista Island, Garcia Island, and Santa Lucia Island, among numerous smaller islets, headlands, and reefs extending from Cape Chirikof and Cape Bartolome in the south to Canal Point in the north. Hydrology is primarily coastal: the area drains through Port Real Marina, fed by Arroyo Blanco and Rio de la Aguada, with additional enclosed water bodies at Lake Fortaleza, Garcia Cove, El Puertezuelo, and Thimble Cove. Dalton Hot Springs marks a geothermal feature within the area's interior. The absence of roads throughout the archipelago keeps these coastal drainages intact and free of chronic sediment inputs.

Where soils allow, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata) form the canopy of the Pacific coastal temperate rainforest. Red alder (Alnus rubra) colonizes drainage margins and disturbed edges. Beneath the conifers, deer fern (Struthiopteris spicant), devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), salal (Gaultheria shallon), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), and thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) form a dense shrub and herbaceous layer. Snow threadwort (Fuscocephaloziopsis albescens), stairstep moss (Hylocomium splendens), and Oregon beaked moss (Kindbergia oregana) carpet the forest floor. In exposed coastal zones the transition from forest to rocky intertidal is abrupt: sea sandwort (Honckenya peploides) and sea plantain (Plantago maritima) occupy the uppermost shoreline fringe, while the intertidal zone supports macroalgal communities of sea sacks (Halosaccion glandiforme), gutweed (Ulva intestinalis), and succulent seaweed (Sarcodiotheca gaudichaudii).

The waters surrounding the Outer Islands support a diverse marine assemblage. Pinto abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana, IUCN: Endangered) graze rocky subtidal reefs alongside copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) and lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus). Sea otter (Enhydra lutris, IUCN: Endangered) forage along kelp-associated reef habitat; Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus, IUCN: Vulnerable) use exposed haulout rocks along outer headlands. Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and orca (Orcinus orca) move through the outer coastal channels. The island forests and coastal cliffs support nesting seabirds: tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata), rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata), and common murre (Uria aalge) are all confirmed in the area. Marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus, IUCN: Endangered) nests in old-growth forest interior and forages in nearshore marine waters, connecting the two dominant habitat types of the Outer Islands. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

No maintained trail system traverses the islands; access is by boat or sea kayak through the coastal waters of the outer archipelago. Moving along the western shore, a visitor passes from exposed headlands at Cape Chirikof through calmer water inside Garcia Cove, where the old-growth forest presses close to the tide line. The enclosed waters of Port Real Marina and El Puertezuelo provide protected anchorage and kayak staging. Dalton Hot Springs is reachable from the water. In the breeding season, tufted and horned puffins are visible from offshore, and rhinoceros auklets — largely nocturnal at their colonies — call at dusk from the cliffs above the intertidal zone.

The Outer Islands roadless area encompasses 99,862 acres of island and coastal terrain at the southwestern fringe of the Alexander Archipelago, within the homeland the Tlingit people call Taan—"sea lion"—Prince of Wales Island and its surrounding smaller islands. Prince of Wales Island is the ancestral homeland of the Tlingit, whose presence in the region spans more than ten thousand years [1][2]. The hydrology of the area still bears marks of a later migration: the Kaigani Haida moved into the outer islands during the late eighteenth century, and abandoned Haida village sites retain Tlingit place names that predate their arrival [1].

European maritime contact reached the outer western shores early. In 1741, Aleksei Chirikov, sailing as part of Vitus Bering's expedition out of Kamchatka, made the first recorded European landfall on the northwest coast of North America at Baker Island, off the western shore of Prince of Wales [1]. In 1774, Spanish navigator Juan Pérez reached Suemez Island, off Prince of Wales' west coast, becoming the first Spaniard to approach the archipelago [1].

The most consequential early European contact came in 1779. On February 11 of that year, a Spanish naval expedition commanded by Ignacio de Arteaga and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra departed the Port of San Blas aboard two frigates, the Princesa and the Favorita [3]. Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra sailed directly to the Port of Bucareli, located in the Prince of Wales archipelago at 55 degrees and 18 minutes north latitude [3]. After arriving in early May, crew members disembarked, formally claimed possession of the territory, and named a harbor on the west side of Suemez Island the Port of La Santísima Cruz [3]. Expedition pilots commanded by Francisco Mourelle mapped the surrounding waterways; Tlingit residents arrived in canoes, exchanging fish and pelts for iron and beads [3]. The Spanish geographic vocabulary of these months persists in the landscape today: Arroyo Blanco, Rio de la Aguada, Garcia Cove, El Puertezuelo, Port Real Marina, and Lake Fortaleza all carry names bestowed during or after the 1779 expedition.

Commercial exploitation arrived in the late nineteenth century. Karta Bay, on the eastern shore of Prince of Wales, became the site of the first salmon saltery in Alaska [1]. Gold, copper, and other metals were mined across the island beginning in the 1880s, with underground lode mines exploiting quartz veins, skarns, and volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits [1]. By the twentieth century, logging had become the dominant industry across Prince of Wales; road-based timber operations reached much of the island's interior, while the more remote outer islands received comparatively less industrial pressure [1].

Federal protection came in 1907. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Tongass National Forest on September 10 of that year, bringing the Outer Islands and the surrounding Prince of Wales lands under federal stewardship [4]. Today the 99,862-acre Outer Islands Inventoried Roadless Area, administered by the Craig Ranger District, is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

Old-Growth Forest Nesting Habitat

The Outer Islands' unlogged old-growth Sitka spruce and western redcedar forests provide the large-diameter branches and structurally complex canopy that marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus, IUCN: Endangered) requires for nesting. This seabird does not excavate cavities; it lays a single egg directly on a wide, moss-covered limb in old-growth forest, typically in trees more than 150 years old. The roadless condition of the Outer Islands has prevented the timber harvest that eliminated murrelet nesting habitat across much of Prince of Wales Island, and the old-growth stands here remain connected to coastal foraging habitat through unfragmented interior forest.

Coastal Marine and Intertidal Integrity

The undeveloped shorelines and intact nearshore reefs of the Outer Islands support four IUCN-assessed species that depend on undisturbed coastal habitat. Pinto abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana, IUCN: Endangered) require clean rocky reef habitat free of fine sediment; their populations have declined dramatically across their range from overharvest and emerging disease. Sea otter (Enhydra lutris, IUCN: Endangered) forage along kelp and reef systems that remain productive only where coastal drainages carry low sediment loads. Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus, IUCN: Vulnerable) use exposed haulout rocks that require freedom from disturbance. The roadless condition preserves the undeveloped shoreline character — no causeways, fill, or constructed stream crossings — that allows these species undisturbed coastal access.

Headwater Watershed Integrity

The watersheds draining the Outer Islands — Port Real Marina, fed by Arroyo Blanco and Rio de la Aguada, along with the enclosed water bodies of Lake Fortaleza and Garcia Cove — remain in their natural flow regime. These drainages support pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), whose spawning and rearing success depends on cold water and sediment-free substrate. Hydrology significance for the area is rated major, reflecting the role these drainages play in anadromous fish productivity. The roadless condition ensures no road cut slopes, culverts, or stream crossings interrupt flow continuity or elevate suspended sediment loads.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

Sedimentation of Nearshore Reef Habitat

Road construction on the exposed terrain of the Outer Islands would generate chronic erosion from cut slopes and roadside ditching. Fine sediments entering coastal streams and nearshore waters would settle over rocky reef substrate, smothering the algal communities that pinto abalone depend on for food and the cobble habitat they require for recruitment. Sedimentation of subtidal reefs is difficult to reverse: once sediment embeds in reef structure, recovery of native macroalgae and benthic invertebrates proceeds slowly over years to decades.

Fragmentation of Old-Growth Nesting Forest

Road corridors cut through old-growth forest create edge effects — increased wind exposure, reduced canopy humidity, and elevated nest predation pressure from corvids and other edge-tolerant predators — that penetrate far into the stand interior. Marbled murrelet nesting success is strongly correlated with stand size and the ratio of interior forest to edge; a single road corridor bisecting an old-growth patch reduces effective nesting habitat well beyond the area directly cleared. Because old-growth structural complexity requires more than 150 years to develop, fragmentation effects cannot be corrected within any practical management timeline.

Shoreline Disturbance and Haulout Displacement

Road construction near coastal haulout sites would displace Steller sea lion and harbor seal through chronic acoustic and visual disturbance from vehicle traffic and construction activity. Roads routed near the shoreline also introduce spill pathways — fuel, lubricants, and runoff from disturbed soils — that can reach the intertidal zone where sea otters forage and pinto abalone recruit on shallow reef habitat. Unlike trail-based disturbance, road-based disturbance is continuous and irreversible as long as the road remains open.

The Outer Islands Inventoried Roadless Area covers 99,862 acres of island and marine terrain at the outer edge of the Prince of Wales archipelago, within Tongass National Forest, Alaska. No maintained trails, trailheads, or designated campgrounds have been established in the area. Access is entirely by boat or sea kayak through the coastal waters surrounding Noyes Island, Baker Island, San Juan Bautista Island, Garcia Island, Santa Lucia Island, and the numerous smaller islets and headlands of the outer archipelago. The protected coves of Port Real Marina, Garcia Cove, El Puertezuelo, and Paloma Pass provide staging areas and overnight anchorage for vessels transiting the outer coast.

Sea Kayaking and Boat Access

The geometry of the Outer Islands — a scatter of islands, reefs, and protected coves fronting the open Pacific — suits both powerboat and kayak travel. Port Real Marina and El Puertezuelo offer sheltered water for staging and overnight stays. Garcia Cove provides a protected anchorage within the interior of the area. The open-coast passages between islands are exposed to Pacific swell and require appropriate vessel and weather judgment. Dalton Hot Springs, accessible only from the water, provides an unusual backcountry destination along the outer shore — a geothermal feature reachable after a coastal approach through the outer archipelago.

Marine Wildlife Viewing

The waters of the Outer Islands support concentrated marine wildlife accessible from a vessel or kayak. Sea otter (Enhydra lutris) forage in kelp-associated reef margins throughout the outer islands; groups are regularly seen from the water in protected nearshore zones. Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) use exposed rocks and reefs along the western-facing coastlines as haulout sites. Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and orca (Orcinus orca) move through the outer channels during summer, following salmon runs into the area. Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) are present throughout. The combination of open channel, kelp reef, and protected cove creates varied viewing conditions reachable within a single day's travel.

Seabird Observation

The coastal cliffs and forested slopes of the Outer Islands support confirmed nesting populations of tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata), rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata), common murre (Uria aalge), and pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba). Pelagic cormorant (Urile pelagicus) nest on rocky outcrops and cliff ledges. Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are common on exposed coastal snags throughout the islands. Marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) forages in nearshore waters in the early morning, connecting the old-growth interior forest — where it nests — to the outer marine environment. Sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) occur in the area. Seabird activity is most concentrated in the breeding season (May through August), when puffins and murres are near nesting colonies and foraging is active.

Marine Fishing

The rocky reef habitats of the Outer Islands support saltwater sport fishing for lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus), quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger), black rockfish (Sebastes melanops), and China rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus) on hard-bottom structure. Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) are present on mixed-bottom areas between islands. Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) move through the outer channels during their return migration. Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) are taken in deeper offshore water. All fishing is subject to Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations.

Roadless Character and Recreation Quality

No roads connect the Outer Islands to the Prince of Wales road system. This isolation keeps vessel traffic low across most of the outer coast and maintains the low-disturbance shoreline conditions that concentrated wildlife viewing depends on. Sea otters, Steller sea lions, and cliff-nesting seabirds are sensitive to foot traffic and vehicle approach at close range; the absence of roads along the shoreline preserves the approach distances these species require. Road construction along the outer coast would increase shoreline accessibility, alter the character of exposed headlands and coves, and introduce the chronic noise and disturbance from vehicle traffic that is incompatible with the marine mammal and seabird concentrations the area currently supports.