The Chugach National Forest is a
United States National Forest
In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by ...
in south central
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. Covering portions of
Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the T ...
, the
Kenai Peninsula
The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan trib ...
and the
Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Chugach includes extensive shorelines, glaciers, forests and rivers, much of which is untouched by roads or trails. It hosts numerous bird, mammal and marine species, including extensive shorebird habitat and a
bald eagle population larger than the contiguous 48 states combined. Human industry in the forest includes extensive tourism and some mining and oil and gas operations.
History
The area that is now Chugach was settled by the
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq people (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a so ...
thousands of years ago. It was first visited by Europeans in the mid-1700s and soon settled by Russian fur traders, who trapped the native
sea otters. In 1867, the US
purchased Alaska from Russia and
gold was found in 1888. In 1907, the Chugach National Forest was created from a portion of forest reserve, which had been one of the first of its kind, designated in 1892.
Geography
It is located in the mountains surrounding
Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the T ...
including the eastern
Kenai Peninsula
The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan trib ...
and the delta of the
Copper River Copper River may refer to several places:
*Copper River (Alaska), in the United States
* Copper River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (afte ...
.
It is the second-largest (third-largest if the
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is considered as one entity) forest in the U.S. national forest system,
and is the northernmost and westernmost national forest. Approximately 30 percent of the area of the forest is covered by ice. Portions of the Kenai Peninsula make up approximately 21 percent of the forest, and include the southern portion of the
Iditarod National Historic Trail
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan ...
. Parts of Prince William Sound make up about 48 percent of the forest. This includes of shoreline, 22
tidewater glacier
The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability. During portions of its cycle, a tidewate ...
s, and the Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area, which covers . Portions of the Copper River Delta cover approximately 31 percent of the forest, and include the "largest contiguous wetlands complex on North America's Pacific coast". Despite its huge size, there are only of Forest Service roads, although there are also over of designated trails.
[
The supervisor's office is located in Anchorage. There are local ]ranger
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
district offices located in Cordova, Girdwood, and Seward.
In descending order of land area within the forest, it is located in parts of the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Kenai Peninsula Borough
Kenai Peninsula Borough is a borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,799, up from 55,400 in 2010.
The borough seat is Soldotna, the largest city is Kenai, and the most populated community is the ce ...
, Anchorage Municipality, Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Matanuska-Susitna Borough (often referred to as the Mat-Su Borough) is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its county seat is Palmer, and the largest community is the census-designated place of Knik-Fairview.
The borough is part of ...
, Kodiak Island Borough
Kodiak Island Borough (russian: Остров Кадьяк) is a borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census, the population was 13,101,
down from 13,592 in 2010. The borough seat is Kodiak.
Geography
The borough has a total area ...
, and Yakutat City and Borough.
Islands
Green Island is within the Chugach National Forest north of Montague Island in Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the T ...
, Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. There are at least three islands named "Green Island" within Alaska.
Gravina Island
Gravina Island is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It is long and about wide, with a land area of . The island had a population of 50 people at the 2000 census.
The Spanish explorer Jacint ...
is also in the Chugach.
Ecology
The Chugach is a temperate rain forest
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain.
Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American P ...
in the Pacific temperate rain forest region. Here the forest occupies only a very narrow strip between the ocean and the icy alpine zone. The dominant trees are limited to Sitka spruce, 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 ...
and mountain hemlock
''Tsuga mertensiana'', known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California.
Description
''Tsuga mertensiana'' is a large evergreen conifer ...
. This zone is known as the "sub-polar rainforest".
The Kenai Peninsula section of the forest is home to over 200 colonies of seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
s, as well as between 3,000 and 5,000 bald eagles. Approximately the same number of eagles live in the Chugach National Forest as live in the entire contiguous United States. The Copper River Delta portion of the forest is the largest contiguous portion of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network and is "considered one of the most essential shorebird habitats in the world".[ The Delta provides habitat for over 20 million birds annually, and during the summer, one quarter of the world's ]trumpeter swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 2 in to 8 ft 2 ...
s and dusky Canada geese call the Delta home. Mammals that inhabit this forest include coyote, timber wolf, moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
, caribou, marten, Sitka black-tailed deer
The Sitka deer or Sitka black-tailed deer (''Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis'') is a subspecies of mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''), similar to the Columbian black-tailed subspecies (''O. h. colombianus''). Their name originates from Sitka, ...
, mountain goat
The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs an ...
, black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
s and grizzly bears. Dall sheep are also found; the Chugach is the only national forest where these animals can be seen. Humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...
s, sea lion
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...
s and otters are found in the Chugach's waters.[ The waters around the forest also host all five species of ]Pacific salmon
''Oncorhynchus'' is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “lump, bend”) + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, “snout”), i ...
found in North America: chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...
, sockeye salmon, coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
, chum salmon and pink salmon
Pink salmon or humpback salmon (''Oncorhynchus gorbuscha'') is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name for ...
.[
]
Human impacts
There is very little logging done in the Chugach, and less than 2 percent of the forest is considered suitable for commercial logging operations; this is unusual among national forests. Instead, the forest infuses money into local communities through tourism, recreation, mining and commercial fishing. There are over 7 million annual visitors to the Chugach National Forest, including kayakers, boaters, hikers, skiers, birders and anglers. None of the area is designated as national wilderness, although much of it qualifies under federal law. Mining, including coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
and hard rock operations, and oil and gas development are found in the forest. In 2003, the Department of the Interior announced that of forest was no longer open to mining, adding that area to almost that had been previously placed off limits. The affected land borders the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness, and the department cited protecting the Russian River and upper Russian Lake Recreation Corridor as the reason for the change.
Gallery
File:Chugach4.jpg, Alpine Lakes in the Chugach forest
File:Skiing across Portage Lake..jpg, Skiers cross Portage Lake
File:Glaciar Spencer, trayecto ferroviario escénico Seward-Anchorage, Alaska, Estados Unidos, 2017-08-21, DD 96.jpg, Spencer Glacier, in the Chugach Forest
File:Chugach2.jpg, Alpine trees in the Chugach forest
File:Portage Lake, Alaska.jpg, Portage Lake in winter
File:Byron Peak.JPG, Byron Peak
See also
* 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 ...
References
External links
U.S. Forest Service site: Chugach National Forest
*
Temperate Rainforests of the North Pacific Coast
{{Authority control
Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area
National Forests of Alaska
Protected areas of Anchorage, Alaska
Protected areas of Chugach Census Area, Alaska
Protected areas of Copper River Census Area, Alaska
Protected areas of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Protected areas of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
Protected areas of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Protected areas of Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska