INTRODUCTION 
The principal and most valuable industry of Alaska has been the salmon 
fisheries. Close to 90 percent of the entire United States salmon pro- 
duction and 55 percent of the world production comes from this area. 
Approximately 70 percent of Alaska tax revenues come from salmon 
products (16). 
National forest lands of Alaska constitute an important source of 
fresh water streams and lakes in which several important phases of the 
salmon life cycle2/ take place. Spawning occurs in the hundreds of 
small and medium size streams found on these forests. It is estimated 
that the annual value of the fisheries resource of the Tongass and 
Chugach National Forests is approximately $53,000,000, representing 
over 50 percent of the Alaska salmon pack. The Tongass National 
Forest3/ in Southeast Alaska accounts for 85 percent4/ of this total; 
the annual wholesale value is about $45,000,000. 
The salmon fishery is not, nowever, the only important natural resource 
of this region. Dense stands of commercial timber--spruce, hemlock, 
and cedar--cover approximately 3 million of the 16 million acres of 
the Tongass National Forest with a total volume of approximately 72 
billion board feet. Future development of Southeast Alaska will depend 
on an increasing utilization of this forest resource. It has been 
estimated that the forest products industry in this region will take 
its place with the fishing and mining activities as a steady contri- 
butor to a solid economy for the Territory (8). 
2/ Five species of salmon are found in Alaska: pink (Oncorhynchus 
gorbuscha), chum (O. keta), red (O. nerka), silver (0. kisutch) and 
king (0. tshawytscha). This study is concerned chiefly with pink and 
chum salmon, however, as the streams of Southeast Alaska are used 
primarily by these two species. All five species of salmon are 
anadromous and come from salt water in the summer or fall to spawn 
either in fresh water streams or lakes, The red salmon generally 
spawns in streams in which lakes are accessible to the fry. Eggs are 
deposited in gravel beds in the fall and hatch the following spring. 
The fry, after absorption of the yolk sac, emerge from the gravel and 
either move immediately to the sea, as does the pink salmon, or live 
from 1 to 4 years in the stream or lake, as does the red. The next 
phase of the life cycle is spent at sea where the salmon remain for 
a period of 2 to 5 years, according to species and latitude. All 
pink salmon spawn at 2 years of age, cohos and chums at 3 to 5 years, 
and reds and kings at 4 to 7 years. The mature adults return again 
to the parent stream to spawn and die. 
3/ This study is limited to salmon streams on the Tongass National 
Forest. 
4/ Average for period 1926 to 1953, inclusive. 
