At approximately 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is America's largest national forest, encompassing the majority of the Alaska Panhandle in
Southeast Alaska
.
Do people live in the Tongass National Forest?
At roughly the size of West Virginia, the Tongass National Forest is also the largest national forest in the U.S. and home to
approximately 70,000 people
living in 32 communities, including the state capital, Juneau.
What is special about Tongass National Forest?
The waterways of Tongass National Forest produce a huge number of pink, sockeye, coho and king salmon that help sustain local fishing communities
. In fact, one-quarter of the entire West Coast's annual commercial salmon harvest comes from the Tongass, earning it the unofficial designation “America's Salmon Forest.”
Why is the Tongass important?
It sequesters a lot of carbon
.
Thanks to its wealth of biomass, especially all those old-growth trees, the Tongass also benefits humans and wildlife around the world by absorbing and sequestering large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Is Juneau in the Tongass National Forest?
Tongass National Forest, the largest in the United States, received its name from the Tongass Clan of the Tlingits. More than 80 percent of Southeast Alaska is in Tongass, spanning 11,000 miles of coastline, and home to approximately 70,000 people living in 32 communities, including
Alaska's state capital, Juneau
.
What state has the most untouched land?
In
Alaska
, the Noatak and Gates of the Arctic Wildernesses (about 13,000,000 acres) make up the largest area of unbroken wilderness. In the lower 48 states, the largest area of unbroken wilderness is found along the Sierra/Nevada crest in California.
Does it snow in Tongass National Forest?
In Juneau – Tongass National Forest,
there's an average of 252.3′′ of snow (0 cm)
. The month with the most snow is January, with 68.4′′ of snow (173.7 cm).
How many trees are in Tongass National Forest?
There are 9,933,000 (9.9 million) forested acres in the Tongass and 6,949,000 (6.9) acres of the Tongass are not forested. That means
58% of the Tongass is covered by trees
and 41% is covered by rock, meadows, water, etc.
What type of forest is the Tongass?
While many people think of the Amazon and sweltering temperatures when asked to envision a rain forest, few people realize that there is a rain forest in Alaska as well. The Tongass National Forest is a
temperate rainforest biome
, one of the rarer ecosystems on the planet.
Is Sitka Alaska a rainforest?
The vast majority of Alaska's
coastal temperate rainforests
are old-growth, consisting primarily of Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock, and Alaska yellow cedar. Mature coastal temperate rainforests are extraordinarily complex and stable habitats.
What animals live in Tongass National Forest?
The Tongass also supports abundant fish and wildlife, including all five species of
Pacific salmon, brown (grizzly) bears, wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, Bald Eagles, Northern Goshawks, and Marbled Murrelets
.
How much rain does Tongass National Forest get?
The Tongass is a temperate rainforest, with rain and cool temperatures likely most of the year. Average rainfall ranges from
26” in Skagway to 225” in Little Port Walter on Baranof Island
. Summer temperatures average in the 50's and 60's.
Are there wolves in the Tongass National Forest?
It is home to a thriving population of wolves
, with scientists estimating as many as 11,000 of the animals roam the vast untrammeled territory of Alaska and Northwestern Canada.
How do you save Tongass National Forest?
On Oct. 15, 2019, the U.S. Forest Service announced plans to
repeal Roadless Rule protections
across more than 9 million acres of the Tongass, enabling logging interests to bulldoze roads and clear-cut trees in areas of the Tongass that have been off-limits for decades.
Is the Tongass National Forest in danger?
The threat:
clearcutting, privatization
The U.S. Forest Service continues to offer large tracts of this old-growth forest for intensive logging. Private interests, having already logged their own portion of this ancient forest, constantly lobby Congress to put more of the Tongass in private hands.
Is Sitka in Tongass National Forest?
The Southeast is sprinkled with small towns that have built economies around the resources that the Tongass provides. As a community, Sitka is no different, and
is intrinsically connected to the Tongass National Forest
.
Can you camp in Tongass National Forest?
You can camp in a campground – or in a cabin
. You can hike through dense forest, alpine meadow, or on a wooden “boardwalk” trail through peat bogs called muskegs. You can explore world-class caves.
Is there any untouched land in USA?
The lower 48 states are a huge swath of territory, spanning over 3.1 million square miles from coast to coast. But even across this seemingly limitless expanse,
very little land is untouched by civilization
.
Which state has the least wilderness?
- Alaska is home to the most acres of wilderness with 57,432,650 acres.
- Ohio has the fewest acres of wilderness with 77 acres.
- Six states, plus Washington DC, have 0 wilderness areas.
Which state has the most wilderness?
These wilderness areas cover about 4.5% of the United States' land area, an area larger than the state of California. About 52% of the wilderness area is in
Alaska
, with 57,425,569 acres (89,727.452 sq mi; 232,393.03 km
2
) of wilderness.
Who owns the Tongass National Forest?
632,000 acres (2,560 km
2
) of those lands were hand-picked old growth areas of the Tongass National Forest and are still surrounded by public National Forest land. These lands are now privately held and under the management of
Sealaska Corporation
, one of the native regional corporations created under the ANCSA.
What are the most common species of trees found in the Tongass?
Western hemlock (70 percent) and Sitka spruce (20 percent)
are the most abundant. Western red cedar, yellow-cedar, mountain hemlock, and shore pine make up most of the rest.
How many acres is the Tongass National Forest?
Water defines the Tongass National Forest. The
17-million acre
Tongass is the largest national forest in the United States. It encompasses nearly 90 percent of the southeastern panhandle of Alaska.
Where can you find Alaska's boreal forest?
In Alaska, the boreal forest is found
in the interior lands between the Brooks Range, north of Fairbanks to the Chugach Range outside of Anchorage
. Because of the northerly latitude the growing season is short and the winters are long with snow cover that lasts several months.
How old is Tongass National Forest?
Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is the world's largest remaining intact coastal temperate rain forest. At almost 17 million acres, this unique area houses some of the oldest trees in the nation—many
over 800 years old
—and provides essential habitat for the largest population of Bald Eagles in the world.
