Grasslands in Alaska

ENDLESS STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY

O. S. Aamodt, G. W. Gasser

THE AGE-OLD contest of grass can be seen readily in Alaska.

Along old trails where horses have fed and where sled runners and wagon wheels have beaten down the moss, grass springs up. On hillsides where fire has destroyed the ground cover, fireweed comes first to flaunt a flaming defiance at all passers-by then grass, sure and positive; in a few years the cerise of the fireweed is displaced by the quieter shades of green and brown. Other plants find it difficult to send roots through the sod covering of grass into the soil below, but willows and poplars, by an underground line of attack, extend their roots into the sod and send up sprouts, which in time grow into shrubs and trees and, by making shade and usurping water, kill out the grass. Abandoned fields clearly show this struggle for supremacy.

Which type of vegetation, moss, fireweed, grass, or willow will achieve dominance depends on several factors, but chiefly on climate and man. In interior Alaska just now the odds are in favor of grass. The climate is favorable. Grass can take any exigencies imposed by present-day weather, and thrive. To man, the other factor, the value of grass as a feed, as a bulwark against erosion, and as a soil improver is well known and generally appreciated.

In Alaska approximately one-fourth of all phanerograms (flowering plants) consists of grasses. This proportion changes southward, reaching a low of one twenty-fifth at the Cape. There is reason to believe that this proportion and area of grassland in Alaska has increased during the past 50 years, mainly because of fires that have destroyed more or less completely the original plant life. Also noteworthy is that among the species represented are many valuable grasses, such as blue-grasses, bluejoint, and fescues. The most extensive grasslands are made up of the coarser type of grass better suited for use as hay or silage than for grazing.

As a family, the legumes native to Alaska are widely disseminated, but are not so predominant as the grasses. In some small areas they are rather abundant; elsewhere only a few varieties are found in scattered locations. As a whole, they form only a small proportion of the forage plants of the Territory.

In their native habitat the grasses and legumes bear seed and propagate readily, but under cultivated conditions considerable difficulty has been encountered in germinating seed of either the native grasses or legumes. It has been found that close grazing or mowing for hay or silage year after year depletes the stand of the grasses and legumes. Also, the period during which the native grasses may be pastured or cut for hay with maximum yield and nutritive value is short.

Little can be said in favor of the horsetail, which occurs widely in grasslands and in grainfields. Once established, it is difficult to eradicate because of its underground manner of spreading by root stocks. It is not grazed appreciably by preference by cattle or horses. When cut, it is easily cured, becoming light and brittle. There is reason to believe that horsetail, besides having a high silicate content, contains some toxic property.

The extent of the grasslands in Alaska has not been fully determined. Various areas have been investigated and estimates made as to acreage in square miles, the character of the land, and the kinds of grass. These surveys were made by employees of the Alaska Experiment Stations while those stations were operated as insular stations under the direction of the Office of Experiment Stations of the Department of Agriculture. The accounts of these several surveys or investigations were published in the Annual Reports of the Alaska Experiment Stations. A partial list of other reports dealing with the grasslands is given at the end of this article.

The greater part of Alaska consists of high, jagged mountains, many of which are covered with snow, high plateaus, tundra plains, swampy stream valleys, gravelly and cobbly plains and slopes, and other landscapes where either soil or climate, or both, are unsuitable for any kind of crop production. In some of these landscapes, fair to good range could be had for perhaps 3 to 4 months in the year, but mostly these range areas are not associated with land suitable for growing feed crops necessary in the long winter.

Thus, the soil areas where agriculture can be carried out are small and scattered. Perhaps a rather large total of land could be farmed if the United States ever becomes desperate for land. For example, such land occurs along the Yukon, especially within the bend of the Yukon west of Circle, but any reasonable estimate of agricultural needs and prices for agricultural products severely limits the amount of land that can be considered suitable for agriculture within the foreseeable future. The good areas consist largely of young soils developed from stream alluvium or from stream alluvium covered with very fine wind-blown sand.

As early as 1898 investigations of the agricultural possibilities in Alaska were begun along the southern coast and westward along the Aleutian Islands. In the reports of these investigations frequent reference is made to the variety and abundance of the native grasses, whose value for hay and silage in feeding livestock was well known even at that early date. In some districts, as many as 40 varieties and species were found. Letters written in the same year from widely scattered points throughout the Territory indicate that the native grasses were widely disseminated, flourishing as far north as the Yukon River.

In the principal mainland areas, Matanuska, Tanana, and Kenai, agriculture consists chiefly of the production of potatoes and other vegetables and dairying, mostly on a limited scale as judged by standards of production and scope in the States. Some mixed-stock farming, principally in the Matanuska Valley, is in progress with hogs, poultry, sheep, goats, and a few beef cattle. The production of beef and dual-purpose cattle is limited on the Kenai Peninsula, but is slightly more extensive there than elsewhere on the mainland of Alaska.

Straight range livestock production now is limited to three ranches on the Kenai Peninsula, three on Kodiak Island, and one each on the islands of Sitkalidak, Chirokof, Unalaska, and Umnak. The production of range livestock in all parts of Alaska, particularly on the mainland, is restricted by the requirements for winter feed and the many problems involved in producing and preserving such feeds. It is pertinent, however, to note that cattle and sheep are produced on southwestern islands with little if any winter feed except that provided by grazing the narrow fringes of exposed grassland along the beaches during the winter.

The present high cost of land clearance on the mainland limits a more intensive grassland agriculture. Most of the cleared land is necessarily devoted to cash crops ( potatoes and vegetables), for which the territorial requirements can be met without greatly expanding present production. Overproduction of those products in the future is destined to direct increased attention to the growing of dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and poultry. A steady expansion in the acreage of cleared land is also certain to encourage the production of more forage crops and livestock. Diversification in these directions is necessary before a permanently successful system of agriculture can be established in Alaska.

The increased production and improved storage of better forage crops for winter feed in all agricultural areas would make it possible to increase greatly the present herds of beef cattle and sheep. This would also enable the livestock farmer to utilize the extensive areas of summer range adjacent to the principal farming areas and accessible by rail from them. Most of the livestock could be fed for a while on valley crops in the fall and then slaughtered for local consumption; only the breeding herd would then be wintered.

Another possibility for utilizing the extensive areas of summer range is to renew the earlier practice of shipping in steers by steamboat from the States, or by trucking them in over the Alaska Highway from Canada. The latter would be a shorter haul and more feasible, but requires special arrangements between Alaska and Canada.