FAQs about the Natural History of the Inside Passage

10. Is Tongass National Forest the biggest in the U.S.? What percent of old growth forest remains in the Tongass?

Created in 1907 by Teddy Roosevelt, the Tongass National Forest is the largest in the national forest system, encompassing almost 16.8 million acres. The Tongass extends 500 miles from Dixon Entrance in the south to Yukutat in the north, covering about 80 percent of Southeast Alaska. Although home to the world's largest temperate rain forest, 42 percent of the Tongass is non-forested lands, covered by ice, wetlands, and rock. Approximately 56 percent, 9.4 million acres, is considered old-growth forest, of which about 5 million acres contain commercial-sized trees. Nearly 90 percent of the commercial-sized old-growth forest is protected under the Tongass Land Management Plan according to the National Forest Service. Approximately 400,000 acres of commercial-sized old-growth forest has been harvested since 1954 and the forest plan limits the harvesting to a maximum of 500,000 acres between 2000 and 2120. Only two percent of the Tongass is second growth. Environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, and the Center for Biological Diversity have been engaged in a legal battle with the Bush administration over policy changes that are contrary to the Tongass plan.