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IV. DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIAL A^ZAS 



Yakutat Forelands 



The Tongass Land Management Plan recognized the area as the 

 most diverse and productive fish and wildlife area in the 

 Tongass, with the highest rankings for wilderness values and 

 ecological diversity. The Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game (ADF&G) has rated the entire area as having the highest 

 value habitat for both fish and wildlife as well as being a 

 very important eommercial, sport, and subsistence harvest 

 area. 



The Italio, Akwe, and Dstay-Tanis river systems together 

 produce all five species of salmon and are especially 

 productive of coho and sockeye. Peak escapements (the 

 number of fish reported on their spawning grounds after 

 surviving the commercial and subsistence fisheries) reported 

 are 37,000 sockeye and 54,000 coho salmon. These systems 

 are also good habitat for rainbow, steelhead, and cutthroat 

 trout and for Dolly Varden. Brown bear, moose, mountain 

 goat, wolves, marten, mink, land otter, beaver, bald eagles, 

 trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, and a myriad of other 

 birds and small mammals are abundant in this diverse and 

 productive ecosystem. The rare glacier phase of black bear 

 occurs in the Ustay-Tanis eirea. 



The local subsistence and commercial gillnetters benefit 

 from the abundant salmon. The high quality of sport fishing 

 on the Ustay, Italio, and Akwe rivers attracts approximately 

 1600 anglers from Yakutat, other areas of Alaska, the USA, 

 and foreign countries providing significant income to the 

 local economy (the average non-local angler spends about 

 $550 per fishing trip) . Hunting information is only 

 available for the entire YaAutat Forelands, of which the 

 proposed area comprises roughly 50 percent. The proposed 

 area is an important area for moose hunting, an activity for 

 which public demand far exceeds the level of opportunity, as 

 well as brown and black bears and mountain goats. Trappers 

 harvest marten, wolves, wolverine, beaver, and land otters. 

 It is an important waterfowl hunting area for local 

 residents. 



Berners Bay 



The Tongass Land Management Plan rated the area as high for 

 fish and moderate for estuarine resources. The ADF&G rated 

 the area as high for fish and wildlife. The area is 

 intensively used by residents of Juneau due to its close 

 proximity, road access, and resource values. 



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