Home sweet home

This sublime forest setting is "home sweet home" to more than 300 wildlife species, along with the elusive northern goshawk. With the Tongass being the heart of the Earth's largest intact temperate rain forest, it is also the last truly amazing, inspiring refuge for creatures that are in jeopardy, scarce and, sadly, nonexistent throughout the rest of the United States. The Tongass is home to the world's healthiest, largest remaining populations of grizzly bears, bald eagles and salmon, as well as black bears, river otters, deer, moose, mountain goats, wolves, squirrels, Sitka black-tailed deer and many other species. Every plant and animal species that has ever existed in the Tongass still lives there today.

Courtesy of John Gomes and Alaska Zoo

Not only is the Tongass home to more than 300 beautiful wildlife species, it is also home to more than 95,000 Alaskans. There are two dozen diverse communities within the Alaskan rain forest. The communities range from Juneau, the state's capital with 29,000 residents, to small remote villages of fewer than 100 people. The rain forest's name was derived from the Tongass clan of the Tlingit Indians who inhabited the southernmost areas of the Alaska panhandle. For centuries, Alaska natives such as the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian have made their living directly or indirectly from the Tongass rain forest. Making their homes there, Alaskans turn to the rain forest for all things important in life such as food, water, work and recreation. Those who live in the Tongass rain forest live in harmony with the land and natural resources provided for them by the rich Alaskan rain forest.