Admiralty Island is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago () is a 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 mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep ...

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...

. 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; to its east is the long, narrow Glass Peninsula. 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 Kootznoowoo Wilderness 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, a traditional Tlingit community home to 572 people, is the only settlement on the island, although an unpopulated section of the city of

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

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 Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

people, who live on tribal land in the community of Angoon 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 within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

, MB-R10-190. (1992)

History

It is known to the

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 Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

in honor of his

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

employers, the Admiralty.

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey Fellow of the Royal Society, 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 Eu ...

, 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 Discovery ...

'' 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. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. In the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act Congress designated all but (74 km²) of the monument as the Kootznoowoo Wilderness, 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, funga, or features of geologic ...

along with Glacier Bay National Park under the Man and the Biosphere Program

Ecology

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

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to just over 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- ...

and western redcedar dominate the prolific

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

vegetation; wildlife in abundance includes

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a Species complex, species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies ...

, many species of

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s, and

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

. 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, and one of the highest densities of bald eagles in the world.

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 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 watercraft, 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 paddles. In British English, the term ' ...

ing and

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

ing, 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 unemployment, 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 ...

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 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. Over recent decades, various fishing and outdoor recreation lodges have opened up on the island with most of these lodges operating in the

town of Angoon. There’s also on
lodge
on a small, privately held plot of land within the national monument.

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 Sacred islands