

SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA 



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Southeastern Alaska is the strip, 

 sometimes called the Panhandle, 

 from Portland Canal up the coast 

 to Yakutat. Its mainland is a nar- 

 row belt of high, ice-capped moun- 

 tains, and along its coast are many 

 forested islands and countless bays 

 and inlets. The climate is mild and 

 wet. Most of the precipitation is 

 during the winter. Annual rain- 

 fall averages 99 inches, but varies 

 from 150 inches at Ketchikan to 60 



inches at Haines. Temperatures 

 are not extreme : the January aver- 

 age is 30° F., the July, 57° F. The 

 forest is largely western hemlock 

 and Sitka spruce. 



Big-game animals of Southeast- 

 ern Alaska include the Sitka deer, 

 the mountain goat, brown and black 

 bears, and a few moose in the val- 

 leys of the large mainland rivers. 

 Among fur animals are the beaver, 

 the muskrat, the wolf, the land 

 otter, the mink, the marten, the 



RAINBOW 



waters of the Inland Passage are 

 sea lions, whales, Ball's porpoise 

 and the Pacific Harbor porpoise, 

 and one of the hair seals — the Paci- 

 fic harbor seal. Halibut, cutthroat 

 trout, rainbow trout, and pink, 

 king, and silver salmon are some of 

 the fishes in this region, while in 

 the varied bird population are 

 grouse, ptarmigan, Steller's jay, 

 the Alaska chickadee, the pine gros- 

 beak, the osprey, both the golden 

 and the bald eagle, and in winter 

 the rare trumpeter swan, which 

 nests in British Columbia and Al- 

 berta to the east. 



