FORESTS OF ALASKA

B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN.

Four scenes in the forests of Alaska "under proper management they can be made to contribute generously to the wealth of the United States."

When the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867, neither party to the transaction ascribed much value to the forests embraced in the purchase, even though the best known section at the time, the southern coast, was largely clothed with a dense mantle of deep-green tree growth from the seashore to elevations of 3,000 feet.

We can understand this lack of interest in the forests, however, when we consider that there the coastal forest was merely the northern tip of a far greater timbered area, which extended down along the northwestern coast of North America to the southern boundary of Oregon, and that all the timber of this vast area was then practically untapped.

This great real estate transfer occurred only 82 years ago, but already the forest situation has changed radically. Large-scale timber industries have long since spread over the whole of the coastal forest area lying to the south of Alaska; pulp and paper manufacturers now are considering the extension of their operations to the hemlock and spruce stands of Alaska's southern coast to meet the constantly increasing demand for pulp products in the United States. Farther north, in interior Alaska, the light stands of white spruce and white birch have long been used by the small population, but increasing public interest in development there is focusing more attention on the value of those forests.

Alaska, one-fifth the size of continental United States, has many kinds Of climate and many types of vegetative cover. .A forester, though, divides the Territory roughly into three vegetative regions the nontimbered Arctic and Bering Sea coast, the lightly timbered interior, and the well-timbered south coast.

The Arctic and Bering Sea coast embraces about 30 percent of the area of the Territory and includes most of the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea coastal region to an average width of about 100 miles, and the land draining into the Arctic Ocean. Generally, the region is untimbered, the climate being too severe for tree growth. Surprisingly, however, white spruce trees sufficiently large for cabin logs and narrow boards grow along the banks of the Noatak and Kobuk Rivers and some branches of the Yukon River, well north of the Arctic Circle. Much of the region is flat lowland and rounded ridges covered with a swamp and tundra vegetation of moss, lichens, sedges, dwarf willows, and other short shrubs. The more southerly lands, the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, are mountainous and support a luxuriant growth of grass, alder, and willow.

Interior Alaska, as here considered, lies between the mountain chain, which forms the Arctic Divide on the north, and the crest of the Coastal Range, which borders the Pacific Ocean on the south. It covers about 60 percent of the area of the Territory, and comprises the watersheds of the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Copper, Susitna, and other large rivers. This is the region that meets the popular conception of Alaska. The winters are long and intensely cold. The summers are short but warm, and daylight lasts 20 hours or more of each 24 days. Much of the area has permanently frozen ground (permafrost) to within a foot or two of the surface. The annual rainfall is exceedingly light (being only 12 to 16 inches) but permafrost and the short summers prevent the development of desert conditions. Millions of acres of sparse timber give this region the classification of a forested country, but the forests occur as many scattered islands among the extensive areas of swamp and tundra vegetation on the valley floors and along the foothills. They give way entirely to shrubs, grass, and barren ground on the higher ridges and mountains.

The south coast covers about 10 percent of the area of the Territory and comprises the narrow, crescent-shaped region fronting on the Pacific Ocean from Portland Canal on the southeast to Kodiak Island on the northwest, a distance of 800 miles. Southeastern Alaska, the almost-detached section that extends southerly as a panhandle along the western side of northern British Columbia for 400 miles, makes up almost two-thirds of it. The region consists of a narrow strip of mainland extending back to the summit of the Coastal Range, numerous large and small islands, and a maze of intervening narrow waterways. The land is mountainous throughout, and rises abruptly from the water's edge to heights commonly exceeding 4,000 feet and, in many instances, 8,000 feet. A few awe-inspiring peaks extend to 15,000 and 18,000 feet above the nearby sea. The coast line of mainland and islands is highly indented, and the deep, narrow waterways, the fiords, reach far inland toward the backbone of the mountains, with the result that most of the land area is within a few miles of navigable tidewater. The lofty summit of the mountain chain on the mainland strip has great permanent icefields, from which ice is drained off by glaciers down hundreds of valleys.

The voyager along the network of narrow waterways here gains the impression of a mountain country which has been depressed about 1,000 feet, thereby transforming the former stream valleys into deep, narrow, navigable sea channels, and the summits of the high ridges into chains or elongated islands.

The south coast owes its well-timbered condition to a moist and rather warm, equable climate. A warm ocean current of the north Pacific touches the northwest coast of North America from Kodiak Island to southern Oregon along a distance of 1,800 miles and gives the intervening coastal area about the same climate throughout. The visitor from Portland feels at home in the winters of Sitka. Winds moving landward from this warm ocean water, through a low barometric trough usually lying over a portion of the north Pacific, greatly modify the winter temperatures. They also produce a heavy rainfall, as much of their abundant moisture is dropped when they strike the cold, high coastal mountains.

The winters of the south-coast area are long but not severely cold. The average January temperature at sea level is 32 F., about the same as that of Washington, D. C., or Cincinnati, Ohio. A reading of zero is a rarity. The summers are cool, with an average July temperature of about 55 . The average annual precipitation is heavy. It ranges from 70 to 155 inches at sea level in different parts of the region and rapidly increases with elevation on the exposed westward slopes of the mountains. The winter precipitation near tidewater is largely in the form of rain, and the ground may be clear or nearly clear of snow for extended periods, but at elevations above 600 feet the snowfall persists throughout the winter months and accumulates to great depths. Cloudy days are common in all seasons and constitute two-thirds of the days of the year. There is no pronounced summer dry season. Harbors are not icebound, and climatic conditions at the lower elevations do not, as a rule, seriously interfere with outdoor winter activities, such as logging.

A growing season of 150 days and 16 to 18 hours of daylight are highly favorable to the growth of vegetation, especially coniferous forests, but heavy rainfall, rough topography, and thin, new soils in this part of Alaska practically rule out extensive agricultural development. Many garden crops do well if given good care.