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M/V Chugach
Interpretive Planning for the M/V Chugach 
Draft interpretive plan – in development
- May 2022 DRAFT Interpretive Panel Design (60%)
- May 2022 DRAFT Interpretive Text (60%) – same text included in ‘Interpretive Panel Design’
- Comment form - M/V Chugach draft interpretive panel
Final conceptual design plan
- May 2022 FINAL Conceptual Design Plan – Book 1 Design
- May 2022 FINAL Conceptual Design Plan – Book 2 Content
1925
The M/V Chugach is a historic ranger boat on loan to the Wrangell Museum in Wrangell, Alaska. She is the last wooden ranger boat in the U.S. Forest Service fleet. Designed by Seattle-based boat designer, L. H. Coolidge, she launched in Seattle in 1925 and was in service until 2015; transporting scientists, government officials, supplies, and guests throughout the areas administered by the Forest Service in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska. First based in Cordova, the M/V Chugach was relocated to Petersburg in 1953. She is 62 feet long, 14.5 feet wide, and is estimated to displace 40 tons. The M/V Chugach was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and restored and maintained following procedures in Section 106.
Site Overview Read aloud by the Juneau Community Charter School 4/5 grade class.
For more information:
- Historic Context and Evaluation of Ranger Boats in Alaska (PDF)
- M/V Chugach Brochure (PDF)
- From the Archives: Ranger Boat Photos (PDF)
- Forest Service Flag History (PDF)
- Photo of the blueprints for the M/V Chugach (2.5 mb)
- Photo of the M/V Chugach Poster (1.9 mb)
- Photo of the M/V Chugach NRHP plaque (2 mb)
- Forest Service Seeks Help to Preserve the M/V Chugach Ranger Boat News Release
- Ranger Boat Chugach (PDF)
- Excerpt from the M/V Chugach National Register of Historic Places Nomination
In early August the M/V Chugach answered a distress call from the M/V Estella adrift in a howling storm in Chatham Strait. At least one crew member of the Chugach lost his supper on the storm-tossed waters, but before a heroic rescue could be achieved, the Estella got her motors running again and limped into the Bay of Pillars.
-From SourDough Notes, August 1956.