i86 Forestry Quarterly. 



of building material are consumed locally for private and munici- 

 pal improvements, also limited amounts for railroad ties in the 

 Cook Inlet and Copper River regions. 



In this paper only the several species which occur in abundance 

 in the coastal forests are to be discussed, since they have great 

 present and prospective values on account of their availability 

 and the many other economic conditions which favor their early 

 utilization. There has been no opportunity to study species 

 found in the interior of Alaska and therefore they will be dis- 

 cussed only in a general way. 



Interior Forests. The interior forests cover a vast extent of 

 territory a large proportion of the forest area being included 

 within the drainage basins of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. 

 A large percentage of the forest is of the woodland type, more 

 or less open and not over 50 per cent, of the timber is valuable 

 for saw-timber or cordwood. Among the several species found, 

 White Spruce (Picea canadensis) is the most important, since it 

 makes the best growth and attains suitable sizes for saw-timber. 

 Practically all of the timber growing in this region will be locally 

 consumed. The extensive mining and agricultural industries 

 which are expected to develop will demand large quantities of 

 material from the forests for construction purposes and fuel. 

 White Spruce will furnish most of the saw-timber while White 

 Birch, Balsam, Poplar, Black Cottonwood and Aspen will supply 

 the principal part of the cordwood. 



Coast Forests — The Tongass and Chugach National Forests in- 

 clude practically all of the valuable coast forests of the south and 

 southeastern Alaska. These forests contain an abundant supply 

 of saw and piling timber for local use as well as an abundance of 

 inferior material that may be used for pulp. 



Of the two forests, the Tongass is the most important. It has 

 approximately ten million acres of timberland while the Chugach 

 has only about four million acres, the forested area is more 

 heavily timbered, the timber grows to larger sizes and is more 

 advantageously located with respect to transportation facilities 

 and water power. These coast forests have not been exploited 

 except for local use and the lumbering industry has not grown to 

 any great proportions. In southeastern Alaska however, there 

 has been a continuous and rapid growth for the past several years 

 as is shown by the following table : 



