The fisheries resource and the timber resource are closely related. 
The availability of suitable spawning grounds, probably more than any 
other factor, controls the distribution and abundance of salmon (16). 
Concern is sometimes expressed that logging may disturb the spawning 
facilities of the salmon streams. 
Sawtimber operations in the past have been confined chiefly to rela- 
tively small cuttings located near tidewater. The beginning of pulp- 
timber operations in Southeast Alaska will bring about larger logging 
operations and an accelerated rate of cutting. These will exert a 
greater influence on the watersheds of important salmon streams than 
the earlier operations. Clear cutting, however, will not denude large, 
unbroken areas of individual watersheds because commercial timber stands 
are intermingled with areas of non-merchantable types. Area of com- 
mercial forest on the four watersheds selected for study ranges from 
approximately 18 to 36 percent of the total watershed. 
The prospect of a pulp industry in Alaska brought attention to the need 
for reliable answers as to whether logging is harmful to salmon spawn- 
ing facilities. The effects of large-scale pulptimber logging on 
salmon streams in Southeast Alaska are not known. Knowledge of the 
influence of forest and other vegetal cover conditions on streamflow, 
stream siltation, water temperature, and other factors is needed. 
The Alaska Forest Research Center began a program of research in 1949 
to determine the effects of logging on the physical factors of salmon 
streams. Four streams, located in the Kasaan Bay area, Prince of Wales 
Island, were selected for long-term study. These are representative of 
the smail- to medium-size island streams found in Southeast Alaska. No 
cutting had previously been made on any of the adjacent watersheds. The 
principal objective of the study is to determine whether logging by 
Forest Service standards5/ results in damage to the spawning facilities 
of salmon streams. The project has been primarily a forest management 
study and will assess only physical change. The relation of the salmon 
to any environmental change will be analyzed by trained fisheries 
biologists in a cooperative study now being started. 
The study of physical factors is divided into two main parts: (1) col- 
lection of information on the type and extent of physical change which 
takes place in these streams prior to logging, and (2) change during and 
following logging. Two watersheds will be logged; two will not be logged. 
The design permits analyses within groups and between groups, i.e. 
(a) before and after logging on two watersheds, and (b) logged watersheds 
versus unlogged watersheds. The study will continue over a 12- to 15- 
year period. For streams whose watersheds are to be logged, this period 
5/ The Alaska Region of the U. S. Forest Service has long incorporated 
certain standard provisions in timber sale contracts and agreements for 
protecting salmon streams. Adequate safeguards are included in the 
logging plan to protect the spawning beds; felling timber or leaving 
logging debris in stream channels or diverting streams is not allowed. 
BaD) abe 
