Chichagof Island, or Shee Kaax, is an island in the Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...

 of the Alaska Panhandle

Alaska Panhandle

Southeast Alaska, sometimes referred to as the Alaska Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies west of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United...

. At 75 miles (120.7 km) long and 50 miles (80.5 km) wide, it has a land area of 2048.61 square miles (5,305.9 km²), making it the fifth largest island in the United States and the 109th largest island in the world. It's coastline measures 742 miles. There was a 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

 population of 1,342 persons. It is one of the ABC islands of Alaska

ABC Islands (Alaska)

The ABC Islands is the colloquial name for the Alaskan islands of Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof in the northern part of the Alexander Archipelago. The islands are known for their wilderness and wildlife, which include a clade of brown bear that is more closely related to polar bears than to...

.
Chichagof Island has the highest population of bears per square mile of any place on Earth.

Chichagof Island is directly north of Baranof Island

Baranof Island

Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island, is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov...

, Peril Strait

Peril Strait

Peril Strait or Háat Ishkáak is a strait in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It is between Chichagof Island to its north and Baranof Island and Catherine Island to its south. The strait is long and reaches from Salisbury Sound on the west to the Chatham Strait on the east...

 separating the two islands. It is bounded by Chatham Strait

Chatham Strait

Chatham Strait, or Shee ya xhaak in the Tlingit language, is a narrow passage of the Alexander Archipelago in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It separates Chichagof Island and Baranof Island to its west from Admiralty Island and Kuiu Island on its east.It is long and extends...

 to the east, Icy Strait

Icy Strait

The Icy Strait is a strait in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska, at about . The strait separates Chichagof Island to the south and the Alaska mainland to the north. The strait is from its west side at the intersection of the Cross Sound and Glacier Bay to its east side at Chatham...

 to the northeast, Cross Sound

Cross Sound

Cross Sound is a passage in the Alexander Archipelago in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Alaska, located between Chichagof Island to its south and the mainland to its north...

 to the northwest, and the Gulf of Alaska

Gulf of Alaska

The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...

 to the west.

The communities of Hoonah

Hoonah, Alaska

Hoonah is a Tlingit community on Chichagof Island, located in Alaska's "panhandle" in the southeast region of the state. It is 30 miles west of Juneau, across the Alaskan Inland Passage. Hoonah is the only first-class city on Chichagof Island, the 109th largest island in the world and the 5th...

, Pelican

Pelican, Alaska

Pelican is a city in the northwestern part of Chichagof Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 163.-Geography:...

, Tenakee Springs

Tenakee Springs, Alaska

Tenakee Springs is a city on Chichagof Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 104.-Geography:Tenakee Springs is located at ....

, and Elfin Cove

Elfin Cove, Alaska

Elfin Cove is a census-designated place near the northwestern corner of Chichagof Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States...

 are all located on the northern half of Chichagof Island, in the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area. The southern half of the island comprises the northern part of the City and Borough of Sitka. Only eight persons were counted in this portion of Sitka at the 2000 census. The primary economic sources for all these communities come from either Chichagof Island or the waters and fjords surrounding it. Guided hunting trips, fishing, and logging are all vital economic facets of the local economies.

This island is named after Admiral Vasili Chichagov

Vasili Chichagov

Vasili Yakovlevich Chichagov was an admiral in the Russian Navy and an explorer. He was the father of Pavel Chichagov, a Russian admiral during the Napoleonic Wars.-Background:...

, a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Arctic explorer who never visited Alaska. The entire island lies within the limits of Tongass National Forest

Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres . Most of its area is part of the temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, itself part of the larger Pacific temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, and is remote enough to be home...

. The western coastal portion has been officially designated

National Wilderness Preservation System

The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed land areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964...

 as the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness

West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness

West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness. It encompasses in Southeastern Alaska, in the United States. It includes Yakobi Island, the entire western side of Chichagof Island, as well as the many small island systems along their coasts.The wilderness was created...

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