One of the principal reasons for the slowness in development of wood- 

 using industries in the Interior has been lack of information which 

 a forest inventory would furnish. Another is that information con- 

 cerning the possible uses of the species for various products and 

 the possibilities of getting the proper grades and types of wood for 

 them has been lacking, A forest utilization service unit such as 

 those attached to various stateside forest experiment stations would 

 be of great help in furthering industrial use of the Interior stands. 

 It would also be of assistance in creating new small industries in 

 Southeast Alaska, 



In our 1954 annual report, the first issued for general distribution, 

 brief explanations of past work were included. This report carries 

 on from there to give resiiLts of research during 1955* 



THE FOREST SURVEY 



The forest inventory of Southeast Alaska is a cooperative project 

 between the Alaska Forest Research Center and Region 10 of the U, S, 

 Forest Service at Juneau, Alaska, Practically all of the commercial 

 forest land of Southeast Alaska is in the Tongass National Forest, 

 Initiated in 1954, this inventory will be the first comprehensive 

 source of facts on the condition and use of the timber resource of 

 this area. The construction of Alaskans first pulp mill at Ketchikan 

 in 1954 and the increasing interest of additional pulp companies and 

 other wood-using firms have made it imperative that the administrators 

 of the 16 million-acre Tongass National Forest obtain accurate data on 

 which to base management of this vital resoiirce. Forest statistics are 

 being obtained for the various timber management working circles of 

 this forest. 



Three field parties of two men each measured sample plots and obtained 

 data on about 1,700,000 acres of forest land - of which 95 percent 

 was accessible only by boats and float planes. Roads and trails are 

 practically non-existent in this vast virgin wilderness. Field work 

 was completed for the Juneau timber management working circle unit, 

 A start was also made on both the compilation of data and the cover 

 type map for this unit. In addition, about two-thirds of the photo- 

 interpretation job of the Petersburg timber management working circle 

 unit was ccxnpleted, 



A preliminary plan for a study of timber utilization and drain for 

 Southeast Alaska was prepared. 



Since there was no cottonwood board foot volime table for Southeast 

 Alaska, a study was made to test the possible adaptation of the Girard 

 Form-Class volume tables for l6-foot logs. Tree measurement data were 

 taken on a sample of cottonwood trees and the resultant test showed 

 that the Girard tables are well suited to cottonwood. The tables showed 

 an aggregate deviation of less than seven-tenths of one percent and an 

 average deviation of nine percent. 



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