Admiralty Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

in Southeast Alaska, at . It is 145 km (90 mi) long and 56 km (35 mi) wide with an area of 4,264.1 km² (1,646.4 sq mi), making it the seventh-largest island in the United States and the 132nd largest island in the world. It is one of the ABC islands in Alaska. The island is nearly cut in two by the

Seymour Canal Seymour Canal is an inlet penetrating deep into the southeastern part of Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, United States. The inlet was first charted in 1794 by Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey FRS (1757 – 9 October 1833) was a member of th ...

; to its east is the long, narrow

Glass Peninsula The Glass Peninsula is a peninsula extending southeast from Admiralty Island, between Seymour Canal and Stephens Passage, Southeast Alaska, United States. It was named by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for United States Navy Comman ...

. Most of Admiralty Island—955,747 acres (3,868 km²)—is protected as the Admiralty Island National Monument administered by the

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...

. The

Kootznoowoo Wilderness The temperate rainforests of Admiralty Island's Kootznoowoo Wilderness are unique among the of federally protected Wilderness in Southeast Alaska. The island's towering cathedrals of old growth Sitka spruce and western hemlock could not be mor ...

encompasses vast stands of old-growth temperate rainforest. These forests provide some of the best habitat available to species such as brown bears, bald eagles, and Sitka black-tailed deer.

Angoon Angoon (sometimes formerly spelled Angun, tli, Aangóon) is a city on Admiralty Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 572; by the 2010 census the population had declined to 459. The ...

, a traditional Tlingit community home to 572 people, is the only settlement on the island, although an unpopulated section of the city of

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

comprises 264.68 km² (102.19 sq mi) (6.2 percent) of the island's land area near its northern end. The island's total population at the 2000 census was 650. The national monument is considered sacred space to the Angoon Tribe of

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

people, who live on tribal land in the community of

on the western coast of the island. The Tlingits fought to make protection for the island a part of ANILCA legislation, and continue to engage in stewardship of the island's natural resources. Most of Angoon's residents make daily subsistence use of the national monument.Admiralty Island National Monument/Kootznoowoo Wilderness,

USDA Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, MB-R10-190. (1992)

History

It is known to the

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

as ''Xootsnoowú'', which is commonly interpreted as "Fortress of the Bear(s)", and gives its name to hooch. The island was named by British naval officer George Vancouver in honor of his

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

employers, the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey FRS (1757 – 9 October 1833) was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–95, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and char ...

, master of the ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

'' during Vancouver's 1791–95 expedition, explored it in July–August 1794, in the process circumnavigating it. The Admiralty Island National Monument was created December 1, 1978, by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

. In the

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, n ...

Congress designated all but 18,351 acres (74 km²) of the monument as the

, ensuring that the vast bulk of this monument is permanently protected from development. The monument is administered by the U.S. Forest Service from offices in

. In 1986 it was named a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

along with

Glacier Bay National Park Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. C ...

Ecology

Western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

, Sitka spruce and

western redcedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae, w ...

dominate the prolific rainforest vegetation; wildlife in abundance includes

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

, bald eagles, many species of

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s, and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

. Admiralty Island is home to the highest density of

s in North America. An estimated 1,600 brown bears inhabit the island, outnumbering Admiralty's human residents nearly three to one. It has more brown bears than the entire

lower 48 states The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, and one of the highest densities of bald eagles in the world.Admiralty Island National Monument

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

Whaling

Murder Cove is located at the southernmost portion of the island and was home to the Tyee Company whaling station.

Mining

The

Greens Creek mine Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

is an underground silver, gold, zinc and lead mine located on the northwest end of the island, within the national monument. It began operations in 1989.

Recreation

Admiralty Island offers opportunities for outdoor recreation. The 32-mile Cross Admiralty Canoe Route is a popular destination for backcountry

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

ing and kayaking, traversing the breadth of the island through a series of lakes, streams and trail portages, with several cabins and shelters along the way.Cross Admiralty Canoe Route
, SEATrails. While the modern route was laid out and constructed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

in the 1930s, it follows traces long used by the island's native inhabitants for hunting, fishing and trading.Civilian Conservation Corps Properties in Alaska
,

Alaska Department of Natural Resources The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is a department within the government of Alaska in the United States of America. The department has the mission of responsibly developing Alaska's resources by making them available for maximum use and ...

. The Pack Creek Brown Bear Viewing Area offers visitors the opportunity to observe brown bears in their natural habitat as they fish for salmon and interact with one another during the summer months. Permits are required for all visitors to Pack Creek; they can be obtained through the Forest Service.

Lighthouse

The Point Retreat Light is located on the northern tip of Admiralty and was an important aid-to-navigation.

Citations

General and cited sources

Admiralty Island: Blocks 1000 to 1002, Census Tract 6, Juneau City and Borough; Blocks 3012 to 3018; 3022 to 3026; Block 3048; Blocks 3056 to 3069; Block 3074; Blocks 3087 and 3088; Census Tract 3, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau
Comparison of Predicted and Actual Water Quality at Hardrock Mines

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1978 establishments in Alaska Biosphere reserves of the United States Islands of Alaska Islands of Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska Islands of Juneau, Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Islands of the Alexander Archipelago National Monuments in Alaska Protected areas established in 1978 Protected areas of Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska Protected areas of Juneau, Alaska Tongass National Forest United States Forest Service National Monuments