a cultural crossroads for Tlingit and Haida Natives as well. Infrastructure A network of unimproved roads and trails on the island were developed during years of logging. More than 50 years after the United States made a treaty with the Metlakatla Community that promised a cross-island road in exchange for their allowing construction and operation of an airfield on the island, it made good on its word. A joint armed forces task force constructed a 15-mile road across the island, completed from 1997 to 2007, which connected Metlakatla on the ocean side to the side facing Ketchikan, where a ferry landing has been built. This has not improved access by ferry to the mainland. After the Second World War, the airfield was used as a United States Coast Guard Search and Rescue base. It served commercial aircraft as well until the 1970s, when the new Ketchikan Airport was built at Gravina Island in the Inside Passage. Climate The lower elevations of Annette Island have a Marine west coast climate (Köppen Cfb), with windy and wet weather year-round, cool winters, and mild summers, and straddle the border between USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 and 8. Due to its southerly and maritime location, with an annual mean temperature of , the Annette Island Airport is one of the warmest locations statewide. Precipitation falls on most days during the winter, and the seasonal total snowfall of occurs mostly from November to March, with some accumulation during April. Snowfall in May and October is relatively rare; warm spells raise the high to for several days each month. During summer, there is an average of 17 days with + highs, and rain still falls on around half of the days. Precipitation averages more than annually, with June and July being the driest months and October and November the wettest. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on January 30, 1947, up to on June 19, 2004, with the temperature having fallen below only on a handful of occasions. In addition, the Annette Island Airport holds the Alaska state monthly record high temperatures for January ( on January 14, 2017), April ( on April 29, 1976), and November ( on November 1, 1970). Demographics Annette first appeared on the 1950 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. In 1980, it was made a census-designated place (CDP). It last returned in 1990 and was dissolved as a CDP effective as