90 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 



quarters. The rangers live on the boat all the 

 time. During the summer they work sixteen to 

 twenty hours daily. The days are long and the 

 nights short, and they must travel long distances 

 between points of work. On such runs one man 

 steers the boat and watches the forested shore- 

 line for three or four hours at a time, while his 

 mate reads or sleeps ; then they change off. In this 

 way, they are able to make the most efficient use of 

 the long periods of daylight. 



The other big timberland in Alaska is the 

 Chugach National Forest. It is a smaller edition 

 of the Tongass Forest. Its trees are not so large 

 and the stand of timber only about one-half as 

 heavy as in the Tongass. Experts estimate that 

 it contains 7,000,000,000 board feet of lumber. 

 Western hemlock predominates. There is also 

 much spruce, poplar and birch. Stands of 

 40,000 to 50,000 feet of lumber an acre are not 

 unusual. In the future, the lumber of the Chu- 

 gach National Forest will play an important part 

 in the industrial life of Alaska. Even now, it 

 is used by the fishing, mining, railroad and agri- 

 cultural interests. On account of its great dis- 

 tance from the markets of the Pacific Northwest 



