26 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SITKA SPRUCE IN THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST 



The most important species in Alaska is the Sitka spruce. Single trees reach a diameter of over seven feet and a height of 200 

 feet. A single log brought to one of the local mills was 154 feet long and scaled 18,000 board feet. Many parts of the forest 

 run from lifty to seventy. live thousand feet per acre, limited areas carry one hundred thousand feet per acre. 



feet in diameter. But this comparison indicates an 

 extraordinary development of the Washington forests 

 rather than a small yield in Alaska. 



The coast belt extends from Dixon's entrance west to 

 Kenai Peninsula, a distance of about 1,000 miles, inter- 



rupted at several points where the mountains extending 

 to the sea are so rugged and rocky or have such a cover 

 of ice and snow that tree vegetation is prohibited. Just 

 as the Alaskan coast forests have a smaller development 

 than the coast forests further south in the States, so the 



