Tongass National Forest

Tongass Home » Admiralty Island National Monument

Kootznoowoo Wilderness

The temperate rainforests of Admiralty Island's Kootznoowoo Wilderness are unique among the 5.7 million acres of federally protected Wilderness in Southeast Alaska. The island's towering cathedrals of old growth Sitka Spruce and western hemlock could not be more different from the glaciers and alpine tundra found in nearby Wilderness Areas such as Tracy Arm or Misty Fjords. These ancient forests are home to the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world, as well as thousands of bald eagles, Sitka black-tailed deer, boreal toads, and all five species of Alaskan salmon. The Kootznoowoo Wilderness includes most of Admiralty Island, except for the Mansfield Peninsula, the Village of Angoon, and Native lands along the island's western shore.
	Facts History of Wilderness What is Wilderness?
In most places the exact boundary of the Wilderness Area is not marked; it is your responsibility to know where you are at all times. On the beach, the Wilderness boundary extends to mean high tide. Managing Wilderness means managing people. An estimated 10,000 people visit the Kootznoowoo Wilderness with most of this use concentrated at Pack Creek and various private cabins. Private individuals do not need a permit to visit most of the Wilderness, but permits are required at the Pack Creek Brown Bear Viewing Area between June 1 and September 10. Any commercial use of Forest Service lands, including guiding, requires a special use permit.

[Back to Top]

[Back to Top]

A History of Wilderness

Fifty years ago, much of Admiralty Island was destined for intensive logging to supply a proposed pulp mill in Berners Bay, near Juneau. The Forest Service sold three separate contracts to log the island between 1950 and 1972, although only limited harvests actually took place.

More than 90% of Admiralty Island was added to the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1980, when Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. This one bill more than doubled the amount of designated Wilderness in the United States.

Today, the Forest Service manages the Kootznoowoo Wilderness to preserve its wilderness character, and to provide outstanding opportunities for primitive recreation.

[Back to Top]

What is Wilderness?

The Wilderness Act of 1964 requires the Forest Service to manage Wilderness Areas "for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use as wilderness...." It is this guarantee for future generations that makes all Wilderness special.

Places like the Kootznoowoo Wilderness enjoy the highest level of protection possible under federal law. Logging, road-building, the use of motorized equipment, and the construction of permanent structures is generally prohibited.

However, exceptions to these rules have been carved out to accomodate historic uses in Alaska. Please visit the Tongass National Forest's Wilderness Page for specific information about what activities are allowed in Wilderness, or contact the Forest Service at (907) 586-8800.

"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."

Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577)