Cape Suckling is an area of wave eroded rocky reefs backed by dunes, and farther inland lie the Suckling Hills and the terminus of the Bering Glacier, about 150 miles (241 km) west-northwest of Yakutat and 73 miles (117 km) southeast of Cordova, Alaska. The cape and hills were named in 1778 by Captain James Cook, for Maurice Suckling—Horatio Nelson’s uncle and Comptroller of the Royal Navy until his death that year. The cape and surrounding area have a complex geology linked to the Kayak Island Transition Zone, an area of poorly understood faulting. Large parts of western North America comprise terranes thought to have travelled hundreds or thousands of miles. Southern Alaska consists of a series of accreted terranes, including the Chugach, Prince William, and Yakutat. The Chugach terrane forms much of the Kenai and Chugach mountains, made up of Mesozoic turbidite deposits, plus conglomerate, shale and volcanic rocks. The Prince William terrane is a belt of Paleogene rocks accreted onto the seaward margin of the Chugach terrane. The Aleutian Trench forms the approximate south-eastern boundary of the Prince William terrane as far east as the Kayak Island Transition Zone. Meanwhile, the Yakutat terrane is in the process of accreting to the North American continent. Its collision with North America has helped form the Fairweather, Chugach and St. Elias ranges. The terrane is bounded to the west by the Kayak Island Transition Zone, to the north by the Chugach-St. Elias Fault and to the east by the Fairweather fault system.

The Suckling Hills, part of the Yakutat terrane, survived inundation by the Bering Glacier during the Last Glacial Period. They rise to about 1,500 feet (457 m) and are bounded by the Okalee River to the west and the Kiklukh River to the east. Both rivers drain the Bering Glacier outwash plain. The hills are formed by rocks of the Yakataga Formation and Poul Creek Formation. The Yakataga Formation consists of sandstone, shale and conglomerate. Their age—early Miocene to early Pleistocene, or 23 to 3 million years ago—was determined by abundant fossilized marine invertebrates. The Poul Creek Formation comprises sedimentary rocks such as siltstone, sandstone and shale, dated to the Eocene and Oligocene (56 to 23 million years ago). These rocks are exposed along the coast, forming wave-eroded platforms that provide crucial habitat for kelp, other marine algae and invertebrates, which in turn feed fish and marine mammals such as sea otters. The shoreline features a broad sand beach backed by rolling dunes, with trees or shrubs beginning 0.5 to 1 mile (1–1.5 km) inland. The shore and nearshore at Cape Suckling attract large concentrations of waterfowl, especially during spring and autumn migration. Coastal meadows and dunes draw brown and black bears in summer. The Suckling Hills also support a population of mountain goats that has declined through heavy hunting. Recovery has been slow because of the hills’ isolation from other mountainous areas, limiting the chance of goats from elsewhere recolonizing them.

In 1990 the Alaska State Legislature passed an act establishing the Yakataga State Game Refuge and directed the Department of Natural Resources to prepare a management plan for the state-owned lands bordering the Bering Glacier on the Gulf of Alaska, between and including Cape Yakataga to the east and Cape Suckling to the west. At that time, the University of Alaska owned the timber-cutting rights on those lands. In 1991 the Department of Natural Resources and the University of Alaska agreed on the fair market value of the timber-cutting rights, resulting in the creation of the Yakataga State Game Refuge—but not including Cape Suckling. During the 1992 legislative session, the legislature appropriated $6 million from the Exxon Valdez criminal funds to purchase timber-cutting rights at Cape Suckling, but Governor Walter Hickel vetoed the appropriation. Cape Suckling is currently managed by the Department of Natural Resources, while birds, fish and mammals are managed by the Department of Fish and Game. The area remains available for addition to the Yakataga State Game Refuge, pending future legislative action. Read more here and here. Explore more of Cape Suckling and Suckling Hills here: