Tongass National Forest

The largest national forest in the United States at 16.7 million acres, Tongass National Forest encompasses virtually all of southeastern Alaska's Inside Passage and constitutes the world's largest intact temperate rainforest. Ancient old-growth Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees, some over 800 years old, tower above a mossy understory teeming with life. The forest provides critical habitat for all five Pacific salmon species, brown and black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, bald eagles, and humpback whales that feed in its fjords and channels.\n\nThe Tongass is deeply intertwined with the cultural heritage of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, who have called this rainforest home for over 10,000 years. Their totem poles, clan houses, and traditional fishing and gathering sites are woven throughout the landscape. The forest also played a pivotal role in American conservation history, with decades of debate over old-growth logging culminating in the 2001 Roadless Rule and subsequent protections for its irreplaceable ancient forest stands.\n\nRecreational opportunities range from world-class sportfishing for king salmon and halibut to sea kayaking among calving tidewater glaciers and hiking the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, the historic Gold Rush route to the Klondike. The Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, the Anan Wildlife Observatory for bear viewing, and the remote wilderness cabins scattered across the forest draw visitors from around the world. With over 19,000 miles of coastline and thousands of islands, the Tongass offers a scale of wild coastal wilderness found nowhere else on Earth.