Pern 



Chapcer36 



Status of Forest Habitat 



Alaska 



Approximately 50-60 percent of forests suitable for 

 murrelet nesting occurs on two National Forests (Tongass 

 and Chugach), with the balance on State lands and lands 

 held by various Native Corporations (Iverson, pers. comm.). 

 At this time I have data only for the National Forests. 



Tongass National Forest 



It is estimated that on the Tongass National Forest the 

 original old-growth, classified as "productive" stands (i.e., 

 stands with volumes estimated to be greater than 8,000 

 board feet per acre), was approximately 5,600,000 acres. 

 These stands were composed primarily of western hemlock, 

 Sitka spruce, and mountain hemlock (USDA Forest Service, 

 Alaska Region, 1991). A subset of the productive stands has 

 been classified as "highly productive", with volumes greater 

 than 30,000 board feet per acre. On the Tongass National 

 Forest, the original acreage of this subset consisted of about 

 933,000 acres. These stands have larger diameter trees, and 

 thus probably more and larger lateral branches. More of 

 these attributes would provide proportionally more 

 high-quality murrelet nesting sites (Hamer and Nelson, this 

 volume b). However, very few data are available on murrelet 

 abundances and nesting habitat characteristics in southeast 

 Alaska. At this time there is no direct evidence that highly 

 productive stands are used to greater degree than those 

 classified as productive in southeast Alaska. The results of 

 Kuletz and others (in press, this volume) in Prince William 

 Sound. Alaska, and Burger (this volume) in British Columbia 

 do. however, indicate that high-density old-growth has 

 characteristics associated with high murrelet use. 



Since large scale commercial timber harvest began in 

 the mid- 1 950' s, harvest has largely occurred within the highly 

 productive component. Approximately 350,000 acres of 

 old-growth forest have been harvested through 1990 (USDA 

 Forest Service, Alaska Region, 1991). Additional harvest 

 from 1990 through 1994 has totaled 41,800 acres (M. Wilson, 

 pers. comm.). Thus, an estimated 93 percent of the productive 

 old-growth forests on the Tongass National Forest remains. 

 However, only an estimated 58 percent of the highly 

 productive forest remains. Indications are that forests in 

 southeast Alaska held by Native corporations have and will 

 continue to be extensively logged (C. Iverson, pers. comm.). 



Chugach National Forest 



Although a high proportion of productive forest lands on 

 the Chugach National Forest is probably suitable nesting 

 habitat (classed as mature and overmature timber), this 

 represents a total area of only 101,200 hectares (USFS undated). 



British Columbia 



Data for British Columbia is being compiled and is not 

 yet available. According to Beebe (1990), "preliminary 

 estimates are that only 17 of the 124 coastal temperate 

 rainforests of more than 20,000 hectares remain unlogged. 

 On Vancouver Island, just six of 89 coastal watersheds of 

 more than 5000 hectares remain unlogged." Though 

 illustrative, these estimates are minimally useful as they 

 give no information on watershed size or the extent of logging 

 within logged watersheds. Beebe (1990) goes on to estimate 

 that "perhaps 30 percent" of the original coastal forest remains 

 in British Columbia. 





)A Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-152. 1995. 



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