South Kupreanof

South Kupreanof encompasses 216,816 acres of mountainous terrain on Tongass National Forest, with Kupreanof Island rising to 3,363 feet and coastal points—Barrie, Indian, and Goose—extending into the Gulf of Alaska. The landscape is defined by its hydrology: Castle River and its tributaries Irish Creek, Keku Creek, Kushneahin Creek, Lovelace Creek, Taylor Creek, and Tunehean Creek drain the high country and flow through deep valleys toward estuarine systems where freshwater meets tidal influence. These waterways originate in montane headwaters and carve the primary structure of the roadless area, their presence shaping both the forest composition and the movement of salmon and other aquatic species through the landscape.

The forest reflects the moisture and elevation gradients of the Alaska maritime climate. Lower elevations and wetter aspects support Western Hemlock-Sitka Spruce Forest, where western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) form a dense canopy. On poorly drained sites, this transitions to Western Hemlock-Alaska Cedar Forest, where Alaska cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis) becomes established. At higher elevations, mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) replaces its lowland relative. Muskeg—extensive peatland and bog—occupies level terrain where drainage is restricted, while estuarine tidal marshes fringe the coastal edge. In disturbed areas and along stream corridors, red alder (Alnus rubra) establishes quickly, its nitrogen-fixing capacity supporting a rich understory including devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), larkspurleaf monkshood (Aconitum delphiniifolium), and western maidenhair fern (Adiantum aleuticum). Alaskan Pacific Maritime Mesic Herbaceous Meadows occur at higher elevations, where Menzies' burnet (Sanguisorba menziesii), vulnerable (IUCN), grows among other herbaceous species adapted to cool, moist conditions.

Predators and prey move through these forests in patterns shaped by elevation and habitat type. Alexander Archipelago wolves (Canis lupus ligoni) hunt Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) across the forested slopes, while American black bears (Ursus americanus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) forage in alder thickets and along salmon streams. The Queen Charlotte Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis laingi) hunts from the forest canopy. Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) move through Castle River and its tributaries, their seasonal runs supporting both terrestrial predators and the endangered sea otter (Enhydra lutris), which hunts in nearshore waters. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) hunt salmon from perches along the rivers, while the federally endangered short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) ranges across offshore waters.

A person traveling through South Kupreanof experiences distinct transitions as elevation and moisture change. Following Castle River upstream from its estuary, the landscape shifts from tidal marsh through dense hemlock-spruce forest, where the canopy closes overhead and light reaches the ground only in scattered patches. The understory darkens with devil's club and moss-covered logs. As elevation increases or as one moves onto better-drained ridges, the forest opens slightly, Alaska cedar becomes more prominent, and the air feels cooler and drier. Higher still, mountain hemlock dominates, and the forest becomes more open. On exposed ridges and in meadows, herbaceous plants including Menzies' burnet spread across the landscape, offering views back toward the coast. Throughout, the sound of moving water—from small seeps to major creeks—is nearly constant, a reminder that this landscape is fundamentally shaped by the movement of water from high peaks to the sea.

The Keexʼ Kwáan, also known as the Kake Tribe or "The People of the Opening of the Day," have inhabited Kupreanof Island and the surrounding Keku Strait region for thousands of years. They maintained permanent winter villages and numerous seasonal subsistence camps throughout the island, with three major village sites and two forts located in tribal lands near the northwestern and southern reaches. The area served as a critical food basket, supporting subsistence harvesting of salmon, halibut, and shellfish from coastal estuaries and freshwater streams; Sitka black-tailed deer, black bear, and marine mammals such as seals; berries, seaweed, and traditional medicinal plants from the old-growth forests. The old-growth Western red cedar and yellow cedar provided essential materials for carving totem poles, building clan houses, and constructing seaworthy canoes, while spruce roots were harvested from the forest floor for traditional basketry. Stikine Tlingit clans, centered in the Wrangell area to the east, historically utilized portions of eastern and southern Kupreanof Island for resource gathering and trade. In February 1869, the U.S. Navy destroyed three Kake Tlingit villages and two forts on Kupreanof and surrounding islands in an action the Tlingit people viewed as a taking of their ancestral lands—a loss later recognized by the federal courts in Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska v. United States, which found that the creation of the Tongass National Forest constituted a taking of land from the Tlingit and Haida people who held aboriginal title through time-immemorial occupancy.

The Tongass National Forest was established through a series of presidential proclamations in the early twentieth century. President Theodore Roosevelt created the Tongass National Forest on September 10, 1907, by presidential proclamation under the authority of the Organic Administration Act of 1897. On July 1, 1908, Roosevelt consolidated the earlier Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve with the Tongass National Forest into a single administrative unit encompassing most of Southeast Alaska. The forest boundaries were further expanded through proclamations on February 16, 1909, and June 10, 1909, under Roosevelt and President William Howard Taft, and again in 1925 under President Calvin Coolidge.

Industrial activity in the South Kupreanof area accelerated in the early twentieth century. A sawmill was established in 1911 by the Knudsen brothers, primarily producing barrels for salted fish shipped from nearby Petersburg. In the early 1920s, the Yukon Fur Farm was established on the island, initially raising foxes before shifting to mink production, becoming Alaska's first mink farm, and operating until the mid-1960s. The West Petersburg community served as the primary residential and industrial center, with a population of approximately one hundred people in the 1920s, nearly every residence tied to local business activities. Other industries in the area included a gaff hook factory, a clam cannery, a ship repair facility, and an outboard motor repair shop during the 1930s and 1940s. Mining operations in the broader Stikine area included the Castle Island Mine, located on a small island near Kupreanof, which produced 787,000 tons of barite between 1966 and 1980, and minor gold production from the Maid of Mexico and Helen S mines in the early twentieth century. The community of West Petersburg incorporated as the City of Kupreanof in 1975 specifically to prevent annexation by Petersburg and to preserve its self-sufficient lifestyle.

The South Kupreanof area became subject to federal roadless protections beginning in 2001, when the Roadless Area Conservation Rule protected 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest from new road construction. However, the forest has been subject to multiple exemptions and reinstatements of this rule through executive actions by successive administrations. The Bush administration exempted the Tongass from the Roadless Rule between 2003 and 2011, a decision later vacated by federal court. The Trump administration issued the Alaska Roadless Rule in 2020, which fully exempted the Tongass from the 2001 protections. The Biden administration repealed the 2020 exemption in January 2023, reinstating the 2001 Roadless Rule protections. In 2025, the USDA announced an intent to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule entirely, which would include the South Kupreanof Inventoried Roadless Area within the Tongass National Forest.

Vital Resources Protected

Headwater Protection for Five Pacific Salmon Species

The South Kupreanof area contains the headwaters of Castle River, Irish Creek, Keku Creek, Kushneahin Creek, Lovelace Creek, Taylor Creek, and Tunehean Creek—a network of cold-water streams that support all five species of Pacific salmon. Road construction in headwater zones increases sedimentation from exposed cut slopes and removes streamside forest canopy, which raises water temperature and degrades spawning substrate. Because these streams originate in the roadless area's high-elevation terrain, they currently deliver cold, sediment-free water to downstream fisheries; once roads fragment the headwater network, the damage cascades downslope and becomes difficult to reverse.

Winter Habitat Refugia for Sitka Black-Tailed Deer

This roadless area contains 69.2% of the remaining high-value winter deer habitat in the Kupreanof/Mitkof biogeographic province. Sitka black-tailed deer depend on the dense, old-growth western hemlock and Sitka spruce forest to access forage and shelter during severe winters; the structural complexity of these stands—multiple canopy layers and fallen wood—cannot be recreated once removed. Road construction fragments this habitat into smaller patches, reducing the area's capacity to support deer populations during the critical winter season when animals have nowhere else to go.

Large Intact Landscape for Alexander Archipelago Wolf Population Persistence

The South Kupreanof IRA functions as a critical, unfragmented landscape for Alexander Archipelago wolves, a species already experiencing population pressures from habitat fragmentation caused by roads in the northern part of Kupreanof Island. Wolves require large, continuous territories to hunt and breed; road construction divides the landscape into smaller units, isolating populations and reducing genetic connectivity. The roadless condition of this 216,816-acre area is essential to maintaining the spatial continuity that wolf populations need to persist across the island.

Bear Habitat and Salmon-Dependent Food Web

Approximately 47.9% of remaining brown and black bear habitat in the Kupreanof/Mitkof province lies within this roadless area. Bears depend on access to spawning salmon in the headwater streams and on the intact riparian forest that supports salmon productivity. Road construction disrupts both: sedimentation and temperature increases degrade salmon spawning habitat, reducing the food base bears depend on, while roads themselves create barriers and edge effects that fragment bear movement corridors and increase human-wildlife conflict.

Threats from Road Construction

Sedimentation and Stream Temperature Increase from Canopy Removal

Road construction in mountainous terrain requires cutting slopes and removing streamside forest. Exposed soil erodes into the headwater streams, smothering the gravel spawning beds that salmon and Dolly Varden require for reproduction. Simultaneously, removal of the hemlock and spruce canopy that currently shades these streams allows solar radiation to warm the water; salmon and other cold-water species are heat-sensitive, and even small temperature increases reduce their survival and growth. Because these headwater streams are the coldest, most productive reaches in the drainage network, the loss of shade and the influx of sediment directly impair the reproductive success of all five salmon species that depend on this area.

Habitat Fragmentation and Edge Effect Expansion

Road construction divides the 216,816-acre roadless landscape into smaller, isolated patches of forest. This fragmentation is particularly damaging to Alexander Archipelago wolves and Sitka black-tailed deer, both of which require large, continuous territories. Fragmentation also creates "edge"—the boundary between road and forest—where invasive species establish, predation pressure increases, and microclimatic conditions (light, temperature, humidity) shift away from old-growth forest conditions. For species like deer that depend on the interior forest structure for winter survival, edge expansion reduces the effective habitat available and increases vulnerability to predation and starvation.

Culvert Barriers and Aquatic Connectivity Loss

Road construction across streams requires culverts or bridges. Culverts frequently become barriers to fish migration, preventing salmon and other species from accessing upstream spawning habitat. The USFS has already documented culvert blockages as a primary stressor in adjacent watersheds within the Kupreanof/Mitkof province. Once roads fragment the headwater network with culverts, the spatial connectivity that allows salmon populations to recolonize and adapt to changing conditions is lost—a particularly critical vulnerability as climate change alters stream temperatures and flow patterns.

Chronic Erosion and Riparian Vegetation Degradation

Roads in mountainous terrain generate ongoing erosion from surface runoff, ditch lines, and traffic disturbance. This chronic sediment input degrades riparian vegetation—the streamside hemlock, spruce, and alder that stabilize banks, provide shade, and contribute woody debris that creates salmon habitat complexity. The USFS watershed assessments rate riparian and wetland vegetation in the broader Kupreanof area as "Fair" to "Poor" due to historical road-related impacts; road construction in the South Kupreanof IRA would extend this degradation into currently intact riparian zones. Unlike acute disturbances, chronic erosion persists for decades after road construction, continuously impairing the recovery of salmon habitat and the forest structure that bears and deer depend on.

Hunting

South Kupreanof offers some of Southeast Alaska's most productive big game hunting in a roadless setting. Sitka black-tailed deer are the primary game species on Kupreanof Island; resident hunters use harvest tickets for general season hunts, often opening in August for alpine areas. Black bear hunting is managed through a nonresident drawing permit system (Hunt DL030), with season running September 1 through June 30. The area is recognized for trophy-quality black bear habitat, though Petersburg Creek drainage is closed to bear hunting. Brown bear and wolf are also present and available under state regulations. Spruce grouse provide upland bird hunting in the roadless forest. All hunting in Game Management Unit 3 requires compliance with Alaska Department of Fish and Game reporting and specimen-sealing requirements. Access is by boat via the Inside Passage and coastal points like Point Barrie, or by floatplane to remote alpine ridges. The roadless condition preserves the backcountry character essential to these hunts—steep montane terrain, old-growth forest, and the absence of roads that would fragment habitat and increase hunter pressure on wildlife populations.

Fishing

The roadless area's intact watersheds support wild populations of Pink, Chum, and Coho salmon, along with Steelhead, Cutthroat, and Rainbow trout. Castle River is the most documented fishery, noted for its broad tidal estuaries and productive salmon runs; Irish Creek, Keku Creek, Kushneahin Creek, Lovelace Creek, Taylor Creek, and Tunehean Creek also support salmon and steelhead. Steelhead fishing is catch-and-release only. Cutthroat and Rainbow trout are limited to 2 per day with a 14-inch minimum and 22-inch maximum size limit. Bait is prohibited from November 16 through September 14; only unbaited artificial lures or flies are permitted. Felt-soled boots are not allowed in fresh water. Access is by floatplane or boat from Petersburg or Kake; the U.S. Forest Service maintains remote cabins at Castle River and Portage Bay as base camps. Tidal access is critical—a 16-foot tide is required to reach Castle River cabin by boat. Peak fishing season runs May through October, with steelhead in May and salmon runs in August and September. The roadless condition maintains undisturbed spawning habitat and cold, clean headwater streams that support these wild fisheries.

Birding

The area's old-growth forest and coastal habitats support year-round and migratory bird populations. The Queen Charlotte Goshawk, an endemic subspecies found only in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, nests in large old-growth trees throughout the roadless area. Spruce grouse, red-breasted sapsuckers, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks are documented residents. Waterfowl including geese and sea ducks (Surf, White-winged, and Black Scoters) use the surrounding bays and coastal areas. Spring migration brings hundreds of thousands of shorebirds to the productive estuaries, while summer supports tens of thousands of colonial seabirds along the coast. Kah Sheets Bay, on the southern part of the island, is a documented observation area. Petersburg serves as the primary access point and is designated a Birding Trail Community providing access to the surrounding roadless areas. The roadless condition preserves interior forest habitat critical for goshawk nesting and other forest-dependent species, and maintains the unfragmented estuarine and coastal ecosystems that support migratory shorebirds and seabirds.

Paddling and Water-Based Recreation

Castle River is the primary paddling destination, with a public use cabin at the mouth and a 1-mile trail connecting to Castle Flats cabin on the mudflats. Duncan Canal, the large saltwater body bordering the roadless area, is a documented sea kayaking route. Portage Bay cabin, on the eastern shore of Kupreanof Island, provides another base camp accessible by boat or floatplane from Petersburg (approximately 25 miles). Access to Castle River and Portage Bay is tide-dependent; a 16-foot tide is required to reach Castle River cabin by boat, and a 13-foot tide is needed to anchor at Castle Flats. Public cabins are available year-round, with peak paddling season from May through October. Commercial sea kayaking tours operate out of Petersburg using basecamps on Kupreanof Island. The roadless condition preserves the quiet, undeveloped character of these waterways and maintains the integrity of tidal marshes and estuarine habitats that define the paddling experience.

Photography

The area's mountainous terrain, reaching 3,363 feet at Portage Mountain, offers panoramic vistas of the Alexander Archipelago and surrounding straits. Cathedral Falls on Cathedral Creek is a documented scenic destination accessible by a short steep trail. Major salmon-bearing rivers including Castle River, Irish Creek, and Kushneahin Creek provide scenic and ecological subjects. Extensive muskeg and alpine meadows support seasonal wildflower displays including Menzies' Burnet and Larkspurleaf Monkshood. Old-growth Sitka spruce and western hemlock stands, some up to 800 years old, offer botanical photography subjects. Wildlife photography opportunities include black bears and brown bears along salmon rivers during spawning season, the rare Queen Charlotte Goshawk in old-growth forest, Alexander Archipelago wolves, sea otters along shorelines, and occasional humpback whales. Point Barrie, Indian Point, and Goose Point provide coastal viewpoints. The roadless condition preserves the wild landscape character and intact old-growth forest habitat that make these subjects accessible and photographically distinctive.