Alaska Panhandle
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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.
The Panhandle includes the Tongass National Forest, Glacier Bay National Park, Admiralty Island National Monument, Alaska's Inside Passage, and a myriad of large and small islands. The largest islands are, from North to South, Chichagof Island, Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, and Prince of Wales Island. Major bodies of water of the Alaska Panhandle include Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal, Icy Strait, Chatham Strait, Stevens Passage, Fredrick Sound, Summer Strait, and Clarence Strait.
Wildlife includes brown bears, black bears, wolves, Sitka deer, humpback whales, orcas, five species of salmon, bald eagles, harlequin ducks, scoters, and marbled murrelets.
Major cities are Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. Other towns are Petersburg, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Haines, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake, Craig, Klawock, Yakutat, Skagway, and Gustavus. There are also many tiny (ie, less than 100 people) towns and villages, such as Pelican, Tenakee Springs, Port Protection, Port Fredrick, Excursion Inlet, Hyder, and Meyers Chuck.
This area is the traditional homeland of the Tlingit people.
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.
| Regions of Alaska | Missing image Alaska_state_flag.png Flag of Alaska |
|---|---|
| Alaskan Bush | Interior | North Slope | Panhandle | South Central | Tanana Valley | |
| Largest cities | |
| Anchorage | Barrow | Bethel | Fairbanks | Homer | Juneau | Kenai | Ketchikan | Kodiak | Kotzebue | Nome | Palmer | Petersburg | Seward | Sitka | Unalaska | Valdez | Wasilla | |
| Boroughs and census areas | |
| Aleutians East | Aleutians West | Anchorage | Bethel | Bristol Bay | Denali | Dillingham | Fairbanks North Star | Haines | Juneau | Kenai Peninsula | Ketchikan Gateway | Kodiak Island | Lake and Peninsula | Matanuska-Susitna | Nome | North Slope | Northwest Arctic | Prince of Wales - Outer Ketchikan | Sitka | Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon | Southeast Fairbanks | Valdez-Cordova | Wade Hampton | Wrangell-Petersburg | Yakutat | Yukon-Koyukuk |