William Alexander Langille was born in Nova Scotia and came to Alaska in 1898. Under Teddy Roosevelt’s forestry chief, Gifford Pinchot, he traversed the Kenai Peninsula in 1904 and produced a report which recognized the Kenai’s value as a wildlife and hunting preserve. His detailed description of the forest has been valuable 90 years later in tracking the destruction of the spruce bark beetle.

Langille recommended that portions of the proposed Kenai Forest Reserve be designated as game preserves, including Sheep Creek at the head of Kachemak Bay for Dall sheep, and Caribou Hills for moose and remaining caribou. Following other of Langille's recommendations the Chugach National Forest was created July 23, 1907, stretching from the Copper River on the east to Cook Inlet on the west, Kachemak Bay on the south and including all the Chugach Mountains to the north. In 1909, Langille was named supervisor over what is today's Tongass National Forest.

William Langille is considered one of Alaska’s early conservationists and many historians consider him to be the father of forestry in Alaska. He died August 21, 1956, in Portland at age 84. [Information obtained from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Kenai National Wildlife Refuge web site http://kenai.fws.gov/overview/ and The Anchorage Times, Aug. 30, 1956, p. 5]