6 MISC. PUBLICATION 19 5, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



manufacturing plants for paper production will probably be located 

 in the vicinity of Juneau, however, to take advantage of town 

 facilities and of large, nearby water-power sites. 



The estimated acreage of each of the major cover types is as 

 follows : 



Acres 



Commercial forest 460. 000 



Scrub forest 100,000 



Subalpine 90. 000 



Brush, grass, barren 400. 000 



Lakes 6, 000 



Total 1, 065. 000 



The estimates for areas of commercial and scrub-forest types are 

 based on timber cruises and are fairly accurate. The estimates of the 

 other types are only approximate. 



DETAILED TIMBER DESCRIPTION 



The commercial-forest stands are composed almost entirely of 

 western hemlock and Sitka spruce, the former constituting about 

 80 percent and the latter 20 percent by volume. A few trees of 

 Alaska cedar (yellow cedar) are scattered through the commercial 

 forests. Other tree species are alder and cottonwood along the 

 banks of the principal streams and scattered lodgepole pine on the 

 muskegs. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT 



The extensive commercial forests of southeastern Alaska con- 

 stitute one of its most valuable resources. They are destined to 

 play a very important part in the economic development of that 

 region and in providing the United States with a large, sustained 

 supply of newsprint paper. This section of the Territory is largely 

 unsuitecl to agriculture and needs some other industry based on a 

 renewable resource to complement the fisheries in giving stability 

 to its economic life. At the same time, the United States draws its 

 supply of newsprint paper largely from foreign countries — a situa- 

 tion that is undesirable in many ways, including the large yearly loss 

 of wages that otherwise would be paid to American workmen. 



The Alaska forests can materially relieve both the local and 

 general problems. They are owned by the Federal Government 

 and have been included in the national-forest system, where they 

 will be managed in accordance with the principles of forestry for the 

 continuous production of timber crops. There is no possibility of 

 forest devastation. The lands will not be alienated to the timber- 

 using companies, and all cutting and other forest activities will be 

 supervised by the Forest Service. Practices will be followed that 

 insure successive crops of trees on the cut-over areas and provide for 

 a continuous and regulated flow of wood material to the mills in 

 quantities commensurate with the growing power of the forests. 

 Studies of the local forests indicate that southeastern Alaska can 

 supply 1,000,000 tons of newsprint yearly in perpetuity, which is 

 more than one-fourth of the present yearly consumption of the 

 United States. Paper manufacture has not yet started in Alaska, 



