__NOTOC__ The Kuiu Wilderness and Tebenkof Bay Wilderness are federally designated

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

areas within 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 i ...

, located on

Kuiu Island Kuiu Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It lies between Kupreanof Island, to its east, and Baranof Island, to its west. The island is long, and wide. It is nearly cut in two by Affleck Canal. It has of l ...

, Petersburg Census Area,

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., ...

. The Kuiu and Tebenkof Bay wildernesses are managed by the

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 inc ...

as a single area—creating a wilderness preserve covering the heart of the island.Kuiu Island Wilderness Areas
Cape Decision Lighthouse Society Together, the two areas protect old-growth

temperate rainforest 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 Paci ...

s rising from coastal

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

meadows more than in elevation, with a high point atop the Kuiu Mountain.Kuiu Wilderness
Wilderness.net Tebenkof Bay Wilderness was created by Congress and signed into law on December 2, 1980, as a provision of 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, na ...

.What "Can I Do In Wilderness? Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and Wilderness on National Forests in Alaska"

."Tebenkof Bay Wilderness"
Wilderness.net The Kuiu was created by Congress and signed into law on November 28, 1990, as part of the Tongass Timber Reform Act.

Ecology and history

The landscape of Kuiu Island has much in common with other areas of 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 ...

— heavily glaciated mountains alternating with narrow, deep

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

. Within the wilderness areas can be found a variety of ecological communities, including

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

Pacific temperate rain forest The Pacific temperate rainforests of western North America is the largest temperate rain forest region on the planet as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (other definitions exist). The Pacific temperate rainforests lie along the western side of ...

dominated by

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...

and

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

alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...

zones as low as 2,000 feet above sea level. Prior to European colonization, significant populations 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 ),

native people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

lived on the island, particularly in Tebenkof Bay.

Recreation

Access to the wilderness is possible only by boat or floatplane, with the most convenient

Alaska Marine Highway The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...

ferry terminal being in

Kake KAKE (channel 10) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on West Street in northwestern Wichita, and ...

. One rustic camping shelter is available on a first-come, first-served basis, located near the shoreline of the Bay of Pillars.Bay of Pillars Shelter

. The shelter was built in 1997, but was designed to be reminiscent of those constructed in the 1930s by

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 ...

crews working in Southeast Alaska.Bay of Pillars Shelter
Petersburg Ranger District,

. The two wilderness areas are a popular destination for kayaking and canoeing, offering experienced backcountry paddlers a mix of peaceful, sheltered waterways and difficult, open-ocean traverses. Several

portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

s are available when seas are particularly treacherous.Wilderness Areas of the Petersburg Ranger District

.Kuiu Island/Tebenkof Bay Canoe/Kayak Routes, Leaflet R10-RG-3,

References

External links

Wilderness Areas of the Petersburg Ranger District
-

official site
Kuiu Wilderness
- Wilderness.net
Tebenkof Bay Wilderness
- Wilderness.net {{Protected Areas of Alaska Wilderness areas of the Tongass National Forest IUCN Category Ib Alexander Archipelago ANILCA establishments Protected areas of Petersburg Borough, Alaska

Ecology and history

Recreation

See also

References

External links