Against the forbidding backdrop of Coast Range ice fields, Windham-Port Houghton Roadless Area boasts unparalleled wilderness and wildlife values and absolutely outstanding backcountry recreation opportunities. This area, located between Juneau and Petersburg, is part of the largest unprotected block of roadless land within the huge Tongass National Forest. Its coastal temperate rainforest is graced with stands of enormous old-growth spruce and hemlock trees and diverse wildlife habitat. Black bears (including the uncommon cinnamon color phase), moose, mountain goats, wolverines, mink, martens, wolves and river otters are abundant.
Because of the area's miles of first-class salmon streams, Alaska's Department of Fish and Game rates Windham-Port Houghton as one of the largest producers of wild Pacific salmon in southeast Alaska. Just to the south of this roadless area, the incredibly resource-rich Farragut Bay (in Cape Fanshaw and Spires roadless areas) contains crab, salmon and marine resources that are highly valued for Native subsistence and by anglers and the commercial fishing industry.
In 1999, the Forest Service removed 40 wild watersheds on the Tongass from the timber base, including 42 percent (67,996 acres) of Windham-Port Houghton Roadless Area. But a timber industry lawsuit stripped away this much-needed protection. The Forest Service now plans to allow logging in Farragut Bay and Cape Fanshaw. One of the new roads associated with the timber sales will cut into Windham-Port Houghton, putting the area's significant ecological and cultural values at risk. Roads also threaten isolated populations of mountain goats in the region.
