Tongass Wilderness S t e wa r ds h ip E x pedi t i o n : P a c k r a f t i n g a c r o s s South Baronof Wilderness
Background The land enclosed in the boarders of South Baranof Wilderness is steep, remote, and difficult to travel. Over millenia, glaciers have carved precipitous walls and left long lakes bounded by sheer rock walls that come down right to the waters edge. Other than intrepid deer and mountain goat hunters, this Wilderness area receives almost no foot traffic. Cabins, located on a few lakes large enough to The land float planes, see slightly more use, although most Sitka Community recreational use occurs within a short radius of the cabin Wilderness Stewardship sites. Project In August of 2011, as part of the Sitka Community is a partnership between the Sitka Wilderness Stewardship Project, an expedition was Conservation Society and the US Forest organized to collect baseline plant and recreational use Service to collect necessary information data. Thanks to packrafts donated by Alapacka Raft on the health of Tongass Wilderness Company, the Sitka Conservation Society (SCS) areas. Funding for SCS's portion of the Wilderness crew was able to complete a transect along project is provided by the National Forest the southern boarder of the Wilderness area. The crew Foundation and SCS. consisted of SCS Wilderness and Outreach Coordinator, Adam Andis; SCS Botany Technician, Tomas Ward, and volunteers Nate Borson and Kim Ney.