Alaska (this episode's setting) and Canada's western province, British Columbia (this episode's real life scenery) both feature boreal forests as part of their regional wildernesses, national parks, and forests.
The scenery in the cove where MacGyver finds the ship looks remarkably similar to the location used for Lian Yu, the island where Oliver Queen was stranded in Arrow (2012).
Helicopter is a 1977 Bell 206L LongRanger Serial Number 45142 Registration C-GHUG.