Forests of Alaska 



371 



policy the forest has been divided into 

 pulp-timber allotments, that in turn 

 have been tentatively grouped into four 

 sustained-yield units. Each unit has 

 sufficient timberland to support one or 

 more pulp mills of economic operating 

 size in perpetuity. Suitable water pow- 

 ers that can be developed for mill and 

 domestic use and a good plant location 

 or locations are found in each unit. In 

 all but one unit, plants can be located 

 adjacent to an existing town. Sus- 

 tained-yield units and the location of 

 the better power sites are shown in the 

 diagram on page 368. The diagram 

 also shows the estimated maximum 

 output of timber products in the form 

 of tons of chemical pulp per day which 

 the unit can maintain indefinitely. The 

 volumes of the sustained output and 

 the boundaries of the units may be 

 changed somewhat as more informa- 

 tion on timber growth is obtained. 



As A RESULT of present interest, the 

 Forest Service in 1948 offered for sale 

 by competitive bidding and awarded 

 the cutting rights on a large pulp-tim- 

 ber unit for a proposed plant at Ketch- 

 ikan, Alaska. The contract period is 50 

 years and sufficient timber is provided 

 for this period to supply a chemical 

 pulp mill of 525 tons daily capacity, 

 plus approximately 75,000 board feet 

 a day of lumber or plywood, to be made 

 from high-grade logs that will come 

 out of the woods in the pulpwood 

 logging operations. The land is not to 

 be sold with the timber, but is to be 

 held indefinitely by the Federal Gov- 

 ernment for the production of succes- 

 sive timber crops. All cutting is to be 

 done in accordance with specified for- 

 estry practices and under the field in- 

 spection of the Forest Service officers. 

 Standards of utilization are provided 

 to prevent unreasonable waste of mer- 

 chantable material in logging. Timber 

 is to be paid for as cutting proceeds on 

 the basis of a scale of the cut material 

 by Forest Service sealers. The prices to 

 be paid to the Government for the 

 material taken during the first 10 years 

 of operation are those offered by the 



successful bidder. They coincide with 

 the minimum acceptable rates named 

 in the sale advertisement. Plant con- 

 struction is expected to start in 1949 

 and pulp manufacture early in 1952. 

 At the end of the initial 10-year 

 period, and at 5-year intervals there- 

 after throughout the life of the 

 contract, the prices to be paid for 

 stumpage, the utilization standards, 

 and other important contract provi- 

 sions are subject to readjustment to 

 make them conform to changing con- 

 ditions. Such readjustments are neces- 

 sary to safeguard the interest of the 

 public in this federally owned timber, 

 but the contract also contains provi- 

 sions designed to protect the pulp-tim- 

 ber purchaser against arbitrary action 

 by Forest Service officers throughout 

 the 50-year sale period. It establishes 

 guides to be followed by the Govern- 

 ment in setting new stumpage prices 

 and making other contract changes at 

 the specified intervals, and provides a 

 right of appeal by the contract holder 

 to the Secretary of Agriculture. This 

 appeal includes the right of the con- 

 tractor to have a board of specialists 

 review the cutting-area boundaries and 

 stumpage-price adjustments as deter- 

 mined periodically by the Forest Serv- 

 ice, and advise the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture on action to be taken by him 

 in the matter. 



THE PROTECTION OF SALMON FISH- 

 ERIES and scenic features is provided 

 for. The development of large pulp and 

 paper projects on the Tongass Forest 

 will not be permitted to jeopardize the 

 highly important salmon fisheries of 

 southeastern Alaska. The national for- 

 est contains hundreds of streams to 

 which salmon return from the open 

 sea to spawn, and the productivity of 

 the fisheries would be seriously im- 

 paired by improper logging methods 

 and practices in the valleys of those 

 streams. The Secretary of Agriculture 

 has authority to require that logging 

 operations conform to instructions for 

 preservation of natural conditions on 

 salmon streams, and all pulp-timber 



