Black Bear Creek is located on the southwest coast of the Cleveland Peninsula, approximately 52 miles (84 km) south of Wrangell and 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Ketchikan, Alaska. The stream originates at an elevation of 493 feet (150 m) from the outlet of Bear Lake and flows northwest for 6 miles (10 km) through the Tongass National Forest to Union Bay. The creek’s name was recorded in 1914 by E. Lester Jones of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, who noted significant salmon destruction by black bears in the area. Union Bay is near the southern entrance to Ernest Sound. It measures 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide at the entrance, 1.25 miles (2 km) at its head, and about 3 miles (4.8 km) long. At its head is a large lagoon that forms the estuary for Black Bear Creek, which is mostly dry at low tide. Most of the watershed is covered by Quaternary sediments overlying the sedimentary rocks of the Gravina sequence, which formed during the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. These rocks consist of graywacke, mudstone, conglomerate, and andesitic to basaltic volcanic rocks.

Tongass National Forest, the largest in the United States, spans 16.7 million acres (6.8 million hectares). Managed by the U.S. Forest Service, it includes the islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords, glaciers, and peaks of the Coast Mountains. Most of the forest is temperate rainforest, providing habitat for numerous endangered and rare species of flora and fauna. The origins of Tongass National Forest date back to 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter and naturalist, issued a proclamation establishing the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve. Five years later, Roosevelt signed another proclamation, creating a separate Tongass National Forest. Both areas were officially combined on July 1, 1908. An additional proclamation, signed in 1909, added more Southeast lands and islands. With its vast expanses of remote and undeveloped lands, the Tongass is one of the world’s last largely intact temperate rainforest ecosystems.

The Tongass National Forest is home to large populations of brown and black bears. The American black bear is especially prevalent on the southern islands of the Alexander Archipelago, thriving due to intact anadromous Pacific salmon runs and productive forests. Black bears are the most abundant and widely distributed of the three North American bear species, with an estimated 100,000 inhabiting Alaska. Kuiu Island, located 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Union Bay, boasts a population of 1,019 black bears, one of the highest densities recorded for the species. The black bear is the smallest of the North American bears. An adult typically stands about 29 inches (73 cm) high at the shoulders and measures approximately 60 inches (152 cm) in length from nose to tail. Black bears can vary in color from jet black to white, although black is the most common color. Brown or cinnamon-colored black bears are occasionally seen in Southcentral Alaska and on the southeastern mainland. Additionally, some bluish-colored bears, known as glacier bears, may be found in the Yakutat area and other parts of Southeast Alaska. Read more here and here. Explore more of Black Bear Creek and Cleveland Peninsula here: