Kootznoowoo Wilderness, Federal wilderness area in Southeast Alaska, United States.
Kootznoowoo Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area on Admiralty Island in southeastern Alaska, within the Tongass National Forest. It covers dense temperate rainforest, open alpine tundra, and rocky marine coastlines cut by deep fjords and river deltas.
Admiralty Island has been home to Tlingit people for thousands of years before European explorers arrived in the 18th century. In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act gave the area its current protected status as a designated wilderness.
The name "Kootznoowoo" comes from the Tlingit language and means "fortress of the bears," which reflects how central the bear is to local identity. The Tlingit village of Angoon, the only permanent settlement on Admiralty Island, still maintains close ties to the land through fishing and ceremony.
The area has no roads, so reaching it requires a boat or small plane, usually departing from Juneau or Sitka. Public use cabins and canoe routes exist across the island, but advance booking is strongly advised given how remote the terrain is.
Although the island carries an English name honoring a British admiral, the Tlingit have always used their own name for it, and Kootznoowoo remains the name in daily use among local communities. The island is also thought to have roughly one brown bear per square mile (about 2.6 sq km), one of the highest densities anywhere on Earth.
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