Alaska Panhandle

Inland view of the Alaska Panhandle

The Alaska Panhandle is the coast of the American state of Alaska, just west of the British Columbia province of Canada. In many places, the international border runs along the crest of the Pacific Range of mountains, called the Coast Mountains or the "mainland".

The Panhandle includes the Tongass National Forest, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska's Inside Passage, and a myriad of large and small islands.

Wildlife includes grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, Sitka deer, humpback whales, orcas, five species of salmon, bald eagles, harlequin ducks, scoters, and murrelets .

Major cities are Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. Other towns are Petersburg, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Haines, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake, Craig, Klawock, Yakutat, and Skagway. There are also many tiny (ie, less than 100 people) towns and villages, such as Pelican, Tenakee Springs, Port Protection, Hyder, Meyers Chuck, and Gustavus.

On August 20, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, which formed the heart of the Tongass National Forest that covers most of the region.