482 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



FISH AND WOOD CAMP ON THE TANANA RIVER NEAR TOLOVANA. WHITE SPRUCE AND WHITE 

 BIRCH CORD WOOD FOR RIVER STEAMERS HAS BEEN CUT FROM THIS FOREST; BALSAM POPLAR AND 

 ASPEN LEFT STANDING. FISH WHEEL FOR CATCHING SALMON AT THE RIGHT. 



from tide water, the timber belt is in 

 many places quite narrow. 



The forests of the interior are not 

 nearly so dense or so productive as those 

 of the coast, and produce comparatively 

 little saw timber. The principal spe- 

 cies are white spruce, white birch, bal- 

 sam poplar, or balm of Gilead, various 

 other poplars, such as black cottonwood 

 and aspen, and black spruce and tama- 

 rack. In these interior stands the hard- 

 woods are much more in evidence and 

 relatively more important than in the 

 coast forests where the broadleafs play 

 a very small part. 



A very striking difference between 

 the two regions is in their relative for- 

 est fire damage. The damp coastal re- 

 gion, with fogs and an annual rainfall 

 in the neighborhood of one hundred 

 inches, has little to fear from forest 

 fires ; the interior, on the other hand, 

 has suffered severely and will continue 

 to do so unless effective measures are 

 taken to stop conflagrations which are 

 all too common. 



Most of the timber cut in the interior 

 is used for fuel, and the best of the lum- 

 ber would not grade very high in the 

 States. Wood here is the one source 

 of light, he-at, and power. Transporta- 



tion, both by rail and river, depends 

 upon it for steam. Fairbanks uses for 

 firewood about 7 cords per person a 

 year, and its population is in the neigh- 

 borhood of 3,000. 



The foregoing facts present, in brief, 

 a few broad generalizations about 

 Alaska's forest resources. As with all 

 of the Alaskan natural wealth there are 

 many problems connected with proper 

 development. A large part of the prob- 

 lem is to retain the timber resources in 

 the hands of those who will not wanton- 

 ly misuse them. 



Not so very long ago it seemed that 

 the timber on the Alaska forests could 

 not readily be used. Without railroad 

 facilities the coast forests were of little 

 value to the interior regions, and they 

 seemed entirely too far away from the 

 market of the outside world, but the 

 whole situation is changed now that a 

 government-owned railroad is an as- 

 sured fact and its possible courses are 

 already mapped out. Also with the 

 opening of the Panama Canal and con- 

 sequent cheaper rates of transportation 

 to the east coast, there is created a de- 

 mand for Alaskan pulp to augment the 

 decreasing supply from the spruce for- 

 ests of our northeastern and Lake 

 States. 



