778 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, ipi6 



ests. The forests of the Susitna and 

 Copper river basins are somewhat in- 

 termediate in character, since these riv- 

 ers rise in the interior and break 

 through the mountain barrier to the 

 southern coast. 



On the coast of south-eastern Alaska 

 trees grow to large size ; in the interior 

 the timber is much smaller. The 

 higher mountain areas are completely 

 above timl)er line. Climatic condi- 

 tions in the region adjacent to Bering 

 Sea and on the Arctic slope make forest 

 growth altogether impossible, so there 

 are great stretches of tundra whose 

 vegetation consists chiefly of moss, 

 sedges, and a few small shrubs. Moss 

 may be said to be the garment of Alas- 

 ka, and layers of it 12 to 18 inches 

 thick are not at all uncommon either 

 on the coast or in the interior. 



It is estimated that the total forest 

 and woodland area of Alaska is ap- 

 proximately 100 million acres, or about 

 27 per cent, of the land surface of the 

 territory. Of these, about 20 million 

 acres may possibly bear timber of suf- 

 ficient size and density to be consider- 

 ed forest in the sense that much of it 

 can be used for saw timber, while the 

 balance, or 80 million acres, is wood- 

 land which bears some saw timber, 

 but on which the forest is of a smaller 

 and more scattered character and valu- 

 able chiefly for fuel. 



Timber Contents. 



There is not sufficient information 

 upon which to base any satisfactory 

 estimate of the total stand of timber 

 in Alaska. It has been estimated, for 

 instance, that the coast forests contain 

 75 billion feet of merchantable saw 

 timber, but this estimate might be 

 much exceeded were both the spruce 

 and hemlock closely utilized. More 

 than twenty cords per acre have been 

 cut in good stands of birch and aspen 

 :n the interior, but, on the other hand, 

 there are large areas of black spruce 

 that is too small to use for any pur- 

 pose ; so that it is still impossible to 

 give a satisfactorv estimate of the to- 

 tal stand. 



TJie Coast Forests. 

 The coast forests or south-eastern 

 Alaska are nearlv all included in the 



Tongass and Chugach National For- 

 ests, which comprise 26,761,626 acres; 

 and a large proportion of this area is 

 forested. The species are chiefly 

 western hemlock, Sitka spruce, west- 

 ern red cedar, and yellow cedar, with 

 occasional specimens of lodgepole, or 

 shore pine, black hemlock, Alpine fir, 

 black and white spruce, balm of Gilead, 

 locally known as balsam poplar, black 

 Cottonwood, Oregon alder, and several 

 birches and willows. Sitka spruce 

 and hemlock grow almost everywhere 

 in this region, though in Kenai Penin- 

 sula the spruce extends farther west- 

 ward than the hemlock and grows also 

 on Kodiak Island. The cedars grow 

 in commercial quantities only in the ex- 

 treme south-eastern part, though yel- 

 low cedar is occasionally found in the 

 Chugach Forest. Lodgepole pine 

 grows as far north as Skagway, but is 

 of no commercial importance. 



Grozvth and Stand. 



In the coast region the stand is gen- 

 erally dense, and as much as 25,000 

 feet per acre has been estimated for 

 considerable tracts. Sitka spruce 

 probably averages 20 per cent, o fthe 

 stand, and western hemlock about 75 

 per cent. The spruce reaches a large 

 size, and occasionally attains diameters 

 of more than six feet and heights of 

 150 feet. Diameters of three to four 

 feet are attained by western red cedar. 

 While by far the most abundant spe- 

 cies, western hemlock does not produce 

 as large individual trees as the spruce 

 or the cedar. . The heavy rainfall 

 causes an undergrowth of moss and 

 brush which completely covers the sur- 

 face except where it is too rocky or 

 too steep. So .dense is this surface 

 covering that one may walk long dis- 

 tances without touching bare soil. Wa- 

 ter exudes from the moss when it is 

 stepped upon,- as from a sponge, and 

 consequently there is little or no dam- 

 age by fire in the coast forests. 



Practically the entire forest of the 

 coast region is over mature. It has 

 been accumulating for ages uninjured 

 by fire or cutting. Shallow, rock soil, 

 steep mountain slopes, or poor drain- 

 age often prevent sturdy growth, and 

 on such sites "stagheadedness" and de- 

 cav are common. In favourable situ- 



