GUAM AND SAMOA 179 



timber and imports hardwoods and Douglas Fir, with the result that 

 at present exports and imports about offset each other. 



Despite the differences in quality and the comparative inacces- 

 sibility of its forest areas, Alaska has a resource of high value in its 

 standing timber. It will be able to meet virtually all of its demands in 

 the course of development. In addition it has a great asset in timber 

 for pulpwood and paper manufacture, and it is estimated that the 

 Alaskan forests could supply enough pulpwood to make one-third of 

 all the paper products used annually in the United States. 



FORESTS OF HAWAII, GUAM AND SAMOA 



While the forest resources of the island possessions of the United 

 States in the Pacific play a comparatively small commercial part, they 

 are interesting in various ways. 



On the island of Guam, the largest and most thickly populated of 

 the Marianas, there are but 6400 acres of forest. A wood known as 

 ifil, hard and heavy at the center, is the most important wood on the 

 island. It makes a sturdy furniture wood and is beautiful when 

 kept highly polished. There are various other exotic woods, among 

 them chopag, dugdug, ufa and ajgao found on the island. Copra is 

 the most important item of export, but no saw timber is sent out. 



The six islands of the Samoan Archipelago belonging to the 

 United States have 483,840 acres of forest. Their forests are remark- 

 able in size and in variety. There are coconut palms, contributing their 

 meat as the copra for export ; breadfruit trees and many exotic species 

 of various qualities, largely used at home. 



Hawaii supports, on its several islands, an aggregate timber stand 

 covering slightly more than one million acres. They are tropical 

 forests, with considerable mesquite, and the commercial value of the 

 woods is not great, koa, or Hawaiian mahogany being the most valu- 

 able. Ohia lehua is a valuable wood for protecting watersheds and 

 is the dominant wood in the native forest. About 800,000 acres of 

 the Hawaiian forest area is forest reserve. The forestry work is 

 carried on by the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and For- 

 estry, with C. S. Judd as Superintendent of Forestry. The govern- 

 ment nursery at Honolulu has been established more than 20 years 

 and in that time 4,657,428 trees have been distributed from it. 



