Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 6a-8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area lies within the Southeast Alaska / Inside Passage Panhandle — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,085 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your parcel report in seconds — read in full free for your first 14 days
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area — the short answer
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska: USDA zones 6a-8b, about 211 days between hard freezes, across 3.4M acres.
- USDA zones
- 6a-8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- KLAWOCK AIRPORT station, 68 ft — 13 km away, 23 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- KLAWOCK AIRPORT station, 68 ft — 13 km away, 23 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~211
- KLAWOCK AIRPORT station, 68 ft — 13 km away, 23 yr record
- County area
- 3.4M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zones 6A–8B
Zones in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area. Alaska and Hawaii zones come from USDA's separate 2023 AK/HI maps; the national thumbnail map covers the lower 48 only, so the range is shown as text here.
Zone 6a-8b is Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's 211-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Prince of Wales-Hyder County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Prince of Wales-Hyder County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Each reading below is measured for Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPrince of Wales-Hyder Census Area runs about 211 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPrince of Wales-Hyder Census Area sits in USDA hardiness zones 6a-8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
We scored all 1,085 plants against Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's own USDA zone 6a-8b and its own 211-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile.
More to grow in Alaska
Alaska has a growing page for many more plants than fit above — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
Is it too late to plant in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Prince of Wales-Hyder County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Prince of Wales-Hyder County — 564 documented sites across 4 of the 8 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 6 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 8 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Closest first, across Prince of Wales-Hyder County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KLAWOCK CANNERYBrownfields · 8.9 mi
- Black Bear StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- NATZUHINI MAINT FACILITYBrownfields · 9.3 mi
- Klawock FuelsUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- AMHS - Clark Bay Ferry Terminal (Hollis)Underground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- Klawock Delta Fuels Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- AP&T HOLLIS GENERATING STATIONBrownfields · 9.5 mi
- KLAWOCK DELTA FUELS LLCBrownfields · 9.6 mi
- KLAWOCK RIVER STATE AQUACULTURE FACILITYBrownfields · 10.2 mi
- ADOTPF - Maintenance & Operation CraigUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.8 mi
- Prince-of-wales Ready MixUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.8 mi
- Shaub-Ellison Tire & FuelUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius.
Measured from Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Browse the full contamination data for this area
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area.
Total Sites
564
across Prince of Wales-Hyder County
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
across Prince of Wales-Hyder County
Severity Distribution
across Prince of Wales-Hyder County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Mining runs higher than the national average — 522 sites across Prince of Wales-Hyder County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,085 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area average
Your land is one point inside Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Everything above resolves to Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 3.4M acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at county scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better county average.
Your Lot vs the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area Average
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a-8b, averaged across Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
- ●One soil character for all of Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
- ●Frost dates read at Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's scale: Apr 13 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's 6a-8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area averages can't show:
We read public map data around Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area average
How we know this about Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
When does frost risk typically end in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area typically lands around Apr 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 4.
How long is the growing season in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area sees about 211 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 27, about 176 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area?
The federal record around Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area runs heavier than most — 564 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (522), the nearest Brownfields record about 8.9 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Everything above is measured at Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's scale — its 6a-8b band and its 211-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Alaska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's own scale — its own ~211-day span between 28°F freezes and 564 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6a-8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~211-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 564 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 8.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's boundary and the 3,371,565 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,085 plants clear zones 6a-8b and a ~211-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area — the ~211 days above is one reading at its centre; the 24 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area's 3,371,565 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 564 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Arearead your own land →