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



as steam-power logging, and can easily keep away from the small part 

 of this large island to which the yearly cutting area will be confined. 



The woods activities of timber purchasers and others will be under 

 the close supervision of a Forest Service field officer, who will also 

 be made a game warden of the Alaska Game Commission, specifically 

 charged with the protection of brown bears on the section of the 

 island near the logging camp to which he is assigned. This pre- 

 cludes wanton and illegal killing. In this connection it should be 

 remembered that small and medium-sized logging camps have oper- 

 ated on Admiralty Island under Forest Service supervision for at 

 least 25 years without seriously interfering with the bears. 



Logging operations on Admiralty Island in the future, as in the 

 past, will involve the hauling of logs from the stump by means of 

 heavy logging engines and wire cables. In many cases railroads or 

 tractor roads, usually less than 4 miles in length, will be needed for 

 the final stage of the haul to the nearest bay, where the logs will be 

 rafted for towing to the mills. Logging camps will continue to be 

 largely of the floating type that can be moved along the sea channels 

 from place to place and pulled on the tide flats or anchored in shal- 

 low water near the working areas, and few permanent or semiper- 

 manent camps will be established. The location of camps, regardless 

 of type, can be controlled by the Forest Service. The number of 

 men employed in logging operations on the island under a full 

 utilization of the commercial-timber resources will not exceed 250. 



Pulp and paper mills, including hydroelectric plants, to be estab- 

 lished for the utilization of the island timber will probably be 

 located on the mainland shore of Alaska in the vicinity of Juneau. 

 Thus the work and residence of the paper-industry employees, aside 

 from the loggers, will not be in the neighborhood of the bears. 



Cutting operations increase the food supply for bears. Dense 

 virgin timberland provides little food, while the luxuriant growth 

 of shrubs, berry bushes, and annual plants that covers all cut-over 

 areas in this region for the first few years after logging contributes 

 abundantly both directly and indirectly to the food supply. 



MINING 



Mining on Admiralty Island has little effect on the bears. The 

 northern end of the principal mountain chain is known to contain 

 a belt of mineral-bearing rocks. Promising mines in the develop- 

 ment stage are located on the part of this belt north of Hawk Inlet, 

 including three active gold-mining properties on which heavy ex- 

 penditures have been made. An asbestos mine is also being developed 

 on Bear Creek. 



Active mining operations are largely confined to the relatively 

 small area between Funter Bay and Hawk Inlet. The work is con- 

 centrated in four properties, and most hard-rock miners are not of 

 the woodsmen or hunting class. 



The low-lying lands in the vicinity of Kootznahoo Inlet contain 

 extensive deposits of bituminous coal. A small mining operation 

 here produced coal commercially for a few years, but recently sus- 

 pended operations. Smaller deposits occur farther south, particu- 

 larly in the vicinity of Tyee post office at Murder Cove, near the 

 southern point of the island. 



