Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Southeast Alaska forests: inventory highlights.

Author: Campbell, Sally; van Hees, Willem W.S.; Mead, Bert.

Date: 2004

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-609. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 20 p

Station ID: GTR-PNW-609

Description: This publication presents highlights of a recent southeast Alaska inventory and analysis conducted by the Pacific Northwest Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (USDA Forest Service). Southeast Alaska has about 22.9 million acres, of which two-thirds are vegetated. Almost 11 million acres are forest land and about 4 million acres have nonforest vegetation (herbs and shrubs). Species diversity is greatest in western hemlock–Alaska cedar closed-canopy forests, in mixed-conifer open and woodland forests, and in open tall alder-willow shrub type. Of the forest land, 4.1 million acres are classified as timberland (unreserved productive forest land). About 4.4 million acres of forest land are reserved from harvest; the majority of this reserved land (85 percent) is on the Tongass National Forest (USDA Forest Service). The volume of timber on timberland was estimated at 21,040 million cubic feet; the majority of volume—88 percent—is on the Tongass National Forest. Seventy-four percent of timberland acres and 84 percent of the growing-stock volume is in sawtimber stands older than 150 years, with western hemlock or western hemlock–Sitka spruce mix predominating. Most timberland in southeast Alaska is of relatively low productivity, producing less than 85 cubic feet per acre per year. For most timberland acres, average annual growth exceeds average annual mortality and harvest.

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Citation

Campbell, Sally; van Hees, Willem W.S.; Mead, Bert.  2004.  Southeast Alaska forests: inventory highlights..   Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-609. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 20 p