species in that the reindeer is an introduced 

 species (as are bison at Big Delta and elk on 

 Afognak Island). Some 1,300 head were trans- 

 planted from Siberia during the period 1890- 

 1902. The number increased to 1 million by 

 1936, but dwindled to 26,000 by 1950. Ten 

 years later the herd had made a modest increase 

 to about 38,000. During this long period over- 

 grazing and fire caused serious deterioration of 

 reindeer feeding sites; recovery of this lichen 

 range, under close protection, may require 20 to 

 40 years (Heintzleman 1936; Zumwalt I960; 

 Palmer and Rouse 1945). 



Objectives of fire research and fire control 

 management in much of Canada are similar to 

 those for Interior Alaska. Canada is divided into 

 13 protective zones, within which acceptable 

 average annual burning rates have been calcu- 

 lated for experimental, recreational, productive 

 and nonproductive forest areas, and for non- 

 forested areas. Twenty-eight productive forest 

 types are recognized. The burned area objectives 

 take into account values requiring protection and 

 factors that affect the difficulty of protection 

 (Beall 1949). 



Fire research personnel in Canada are 

 studying many phases of fire behavior and con- 

 trol. Proposed expansion of programs along the 

 following lines will complement anticipated re- 

 search in Interior Alaska: study of fuel burning 

 potentials, fuel type classification, drought index 

 tables, improved detection methods, air and 

 ground application of improved retardants, and 

 an integral economic study of fire suppression 

 efforts in Canada (Besley 1959). 



One might assume that in older established 

 countries like Sweden, where the economy of the 

 Nation has leaned heavily on its timber supply, 

 the fire control organization would be highly 

 developed and efficient; but this is not neces- 

 sarily true. Methods and even concepts of fire 

 control must change with times. The Swedes 

 have found that it is difficult to compare data 

 spread over a several-year period when knowl- 

 edge and accuracy are much better at the end 

 than at the beginning of the period (Stromdahl 

 1956 and 1959). Much the same is true for the 

 data analyzed and presented in this publication. 



SUMMARY 



Interior Alaska's forest resources have 

 great potential value — a fact that received little 

 recognition until after World War II. One million 

 acres out of the 225 million acres protected burn 

 over annually. Too little is known about the 

 special fire problem in high latitude northern 

 forests. Analysis of climate, fire behavior, and 

 fire statistics over the past several years should 

 help establish normals against which future fire 

 seasons and fire control actions can be meas- 

 ured; also, it may help shape the type and size 

 of fire detection and control organization deemed 

 necessary to protect the resources to an extent 

 commensurate with their values. 



Lutz and Uggla are recognized leaders in 

 research pertaining to the fire ecology of high 

 latitude forested areas, and have contributed 

 substantially to a better understanding of the 

 forest fire situation in Interior Alaska. The im- 

 portance of Alaska to national defense prompted 

 the military services to sponsor extensive meteor- 

 ological and climatological research. Some of 

 their work involved studies of weather circula- 

 tion patterns that affect not only Interior Alaska 

 but the entire continent. The resume'of literature 

 in this publication by no means accounts for the 

 total amount of material written on matters that 

 affect forest fire research and control in Interior 

 Alaska, but it does indicate the type of work 

 that has been done. 



The predicted increase in U.S. population 

 will impose a terrific strain on the supply of wood 

 products by the year 2000 according to recent 

 studies. The large volumes of wood fiber ma- 

 terial available in Interior Alaska will be needed 

 to help meet the demands by that time. Forty 

 million acres of commercial forest land contain 

 180 billion board feet of wood and yield, at 

 present, an estimated net growth of 4 billion 

 board feet. Much of this commercial forest land 

 is capable of producing more than 10,000 board 

 feet of timber per acre. 



Commercial use of fish and wildlife is a 

 $100 million industry,- it can ill afford fire-caused 

 stream siltation with its resultant reduction of 

 oxygen and plant life. Expenditures by sports- 

 men and recreationists now exceed $20 million 

 per year; tourists like to see forests of green 



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