Tongass National Forest
Under threat: A coastal forest unlike any other
- Sat, Mar 14 2026 at 10:51 AM
Mark,
This is where the forest meets the sea.
The Tongass National Forest is our planet's largest intact temperate rainforest, stretching across Alaska's coastal panhandle and covering thousands of small islands.1
If you were to visit, you'd smell the sharp brine of ocean spray mingling with the earthy scents of thick forest undergrowth. You'd hear critters scuttling between towering old growth trees and the splash of marine wildlife playing in the surf.
Here's how earth and ocean meet in this unique coastal ecosystem.
Along the mossy forest banks, brown bears hunt for sea lions. Moose pick their way along the damp rocks. Bald eagles swoop into the water for salmon with dramatic splashes.2
From breaching humpback whales to waddling tufted puffins, if you were patient enough to sit still on the shoreline of the Tongass, you'd see a whole host of marine and terrestrial wildlife living together in a delicate balance.3
For thousands of years, water passed through the soft, porous rock of the Tongass and formed hundreds of dripping, underground caverns -- some of which have yet to be explored.4
These caves sat overlooked for years, but once spelunkers began to map them, they discovered the remains of forest creatures who have been navigating the cave systems for thousands of years. That includes the bones of a 12,000-year-old brown bear and creatures like arctic foxes who now only exist hundreds of miles north.5
You may not think of fish and trees working together, but in the Tongass, healthy trees mean healthy fish -- and vice versa.
Fallen logs create calm pools for fish to lay their eggs in rushing streams, and clots of dead leaves are perfect for fostering insects that fish depend on for food. In return, once fish are caught by bears or eagles, their bodies often end up discarded on the forest floor, where they provide nutrients that trees need to grow.6
The Tongass National Forest is a remote, lush wilderness that has been sustaining a delicate balance of land and sea for thousands of years.
Disrupting one part of that web would disrupt it all.
From the orca fin gliding across the ocean surface to the nest of baby bald eagles cheeping at the top of the tallest tree, the creatures of this forest will have to depend on one another if they're going to thrive for thousands of years into the future.
Thank you for exploring the coastline of the Tongass with us,
The Environmental Action team
1. Ellen Montgomery, "Help protect the Tongass, Earth's largest temperate rainforest," Environment America, January 3, 2025.
2. Steve Blackledge, "Journey Through the Tongass," Environment America, July 26, 2022.
3. Steve Blackledge, "Journey Through the Tongass," Environment America, July 26, 2022.
4. "Prince of Wales Caves & El Capitan Interpretive Site," Alaska.org, last accessed March 10, 2026.
5."Prince of Wales Caves & El Capitan Interpretive Site," Alaska.org, last accessed March 10, 2026.
6. "Fish and forests depend on each other," Environmental Action, January 29, 2026.
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