Misty Fiords National Monument is located at the southern end of southeast Alaska adjacent to the Canadian border and is accessible only by floatplane and boat. It extends north from Dixon Entrance to beyond the Unuk River. The western border is about 22 air miles from Ketchikan. The National Monument is 2,285,000 acres; the Wilderness portion of the National Monument occupies 2,142,243 acres.

Misty Fiords is a coastal ecosystem located in the coastal mountains of southeast Alaska. Misty Fiords has many long, deep fiords with sea cliffs rising for thousands of feet. Active glaciers along the Canadian border are remnants of massive ice bodies that covered the region as recently as 10,000 years ago. Behm Canal, the major waterway through the heart of the area, is more than 100 miles long and extraordinary among other natural canals because of its length and depth.

Periodic lava flows have occurred through the last several thousand years in an area of the Blue River near the Canadian border. The latest of these flows was in the 1920s and is an attractive and unusual geologic feature for Southeast Alaska.

Forested areas are dominated by Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and cedar, which are common throughout Southeast Alaska. Black cottonwood, sub-alpine fir, and Pacific silver fir are also present.

There are vast wildlife populations of mountain goat, brown bear, black bear, moose, marten, wolf, wolverine, and river otter. Sea lions, harbor seal, killer whales, and Dall's porpoises use the saltwater bays and passages in the area.

Major fisheries producer of coho, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon, and king salmon. Numerous other salt water, fresh water, and anadromous fish species, as well as shellfish are plentiful in this area.