Observations on the edge of the forest in the Kodiak region of Alaska* 
ROBERT F. GRIGGS 
(WITH ONE TEXT FIGURE) 
As is well known, the western limit of the Alaskan spruce forest, 
composed of Picea sitchensis, crosses Kodiak Island. The forest 
on the northeastern portion of the Kodiak group of islands consists 
of fairly large trees forming a dense stand but further westward 
the trees are much smaller and grow only in the more sheltered 
situations, finally failing altogether. The last of them that we 
saw as we went down the outside coast were on Ugak Island while 
the furthest extension on the opposite inside coast is at Cape 
Uganik. 
The edge of the coniferous forest is generally spoken of as the 
edge of the forest but it is by no means the limit of arborescent 
growth. For both the paper birch, Betula papyrifera alaskana, and 
the cottonwood, Populus balsamifera, though mapped by Harsh- 
bergerf as terminating at the head of Cook Inlet, reach Kodiak 
Island and extend for many miles beyond the last spruce, growing 
abundantly in suitable habitats. In our trip around the island 
we saw the last of them on Two-headed Island, beyond which the 
country was a treeless grassland or tundra. Coming back on the 
opposite side we met them again at the entrance to Uyak Bay. 
Our nearest stopping place to their limits was at Three Saints 
Bay. Here the birches occurred singly on the edges of the bogs, 
reaching a height of about fifteen feet. The poplars grew in 
clumps on the better drained land. They were about twenty feet 
tall and somewhat deformed but the deformation was somewhat 
less marked than in the outermost spruces. The largest plants 
* Contribution from the Botanical Department of the Ohio State easeonnget 
No. 81. The writer’s opportunity to visit this interesting region came wit 
employment during the summer of 1913 as scientist in kelp investigations by he 
Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
. i Panhen a J. W. Phytogeographic survey of North America. Veg. der 
rde 13. 19 
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