A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



23 



Alaska is, of course, part of the United States, the 

 timber resources of the Interior are not inchided 

 in the statistical summaries nor the analytical dis- 

 cussions throughout the Timber Resource Review. 

 The reason is that accurate information on the 

 timber resources of Interior Alaska is almost non- 

 available, and also that these resources are largely 

 unexploited and thus would distort the picture of 

 the United States' timber situation as it is known 

 today. When more is known of Alaska's timber 

 resom'ces, and when they are subject to more ac- 

 tive utilization, Interior Alaska doubtless will be 

 included in subsequent timber appraisals as a 

 region of the United States along with Coastal 

 Alaska, which is included for the first time. 



Although Interior Alaska has extensive re- 

 sources, they are small in relation to those of 

 continental United States. About 35 percent of 

 Interior Alaska's total land area is forested. Of 

 the 120 million acres of forest land, about 40 mil- 

 lion acres, or 33 percent of the forested area and 12 

 percent of the total land area, might be classed as 

 commercial forest land. This commercial forest 

 land supports an estimated 32 billion cubic feet of 

 timber, including 180 billion board -feet of saw- 

 timber, with an estimated annual net growth of 

 about 4 billion board-feet. The timber is very 

 largely white spruce and paper birch. About 95 

 percent of the commercial forest land is in public 

 ownership. 



Expressed in other terms, Interior Alaska has a 

 commercial forest area almost as large as that of 

 Oregon and Washington. It has about one-half 

 as much timber volume in cubic feet as the State 

 of Washington and about 60 percent as much 

 board-foot volume of sawtimber. Timber cut is 

 only a fraction of one percent of current growth. 



Total timber resources of Interior Alaska are 

 substantially greater than those of Coastal Alaska. 

 Although per acre timber volumes are much 

 greater in the heavier stands along the coast, 

 Interior Alaska has about ten times as much 

 commercial forest area and about twice as much 

 timber volume as found in Coastal Alaska, as the 

 following comparison shows: 



lAve sau - 



CommeTcial Growing timber 



forest men stock volume 



(million (billion (billion 



Region: acres) cu.ft.) bd.-ft.) 



Interior Alaska 40 32 180 



Coastal Alaska 4 19 89 



Total 44 51 269 



The main problems of this undeveloped re- 

 source are protection against fii'e, insects, and 

 disease, and underutilization. There is an esti- 

 mated annual mortality of about 2 billion board- 

 feet, half of which is caused by fire. The forests of 

 Interior Alaska need better protection. They also 

 need to be made more accessible. And, of course, 

 there is need for greater utilization and expanded 

 markets. They offer an additional timber supply 



439296 O— 58 3 



to the United States which is not now considered 

 to be economically available, but which ultimately 

 may enter into normal trade channels. 



Canada 



Canada is richly endowed with timber resources, 

 especially softwoods. In relation to the United 

 States, Canada has about 47 percent more forest 

 land and about 9 percent more commercial forest 

 land. As between hardwood and softwood forest 

 types, Canada has 72 percent more softwood area 

 but only 52 percent as much hardwood area. 



In terms of total growing stock, Canada has 80 

 percent as much timber volume but almost the 

 same softwood voliuue. Its hardwood volume is 

 43 percent of that found in the United States. 

 Timber cut from growing stock as well as net 

 annual growth averages about one-third of com- 

 parable volumes in the United States. 



Although Canada has decidedly less sawtimber 

 volume than continental United States, it has a 

 much larger area of softwood timber. The 

 United States has about twice as much softwood 

 sawtimber volume as does Canada and five times 

 the annual sawtimber growth of all species, as 

 shown below. 



United 



States Canada i 



(billion (billion 



Live sawtimber volume, 1953; bd.-jt.) bd.-ft.) 



Softwood 1,559 724 



Hardwood 409 58 



Total 1,968 782 



Sawtimber growth, 1952 47 9 



Sawtimber cut, 1952 49 7 



' Canada Dept. North. Affairs and Natl. Resources, 

 P^orestry Branch. Bui. 106, Amend. Ottawa, 1954. Board- 

 foot growth and cut estimates derived from cubic-foot 

 statistics on basis of inventory ratio of board-feet to cubic 

 feet. 



Important reasons for these dift'erences are be- 

 lieved to be: (1) Forest sites on the average are 

 less productive in Canada, a condition which is 

 reflected both in size of trees and rate of growth, 

 and (2) a much larger proportion of the total 

 forested area is in uncut virgin condition and thus 

 not contributing significantly to net growth. Tim- 

 ber growth may ultimately increase 50 to 60 per- 

 cent above present levels when Canadian forests 

 are under management and when old-growth 

 forests have been converted to more productive 

 stands. 



The forest industries contribute substantially to 

 the domestic economy of Canada. Fifteen per- 

 cent of the net value of all industrial products in 

 Canada is attributable to the forest industries. 

 Emplo}inent on a man-year basis totaled about 

 370,000 persons in 1951, with more than a billion 

 dollars paid in salaries and wages. 



Canadian forest industry is growing rapidly, but 

 plant capacity is far behind that of the itnited 



