Potential for forest products in interior Alaska.

Abstract

Future opportunities for producing Alaska forest products were examined from the perspective of timber supply as reported in timber inventory reports and past studies of forest products industry potential. The best prospects for increasing industrial production of forest products in interior Alaska are for softwood lumber. Current softwood lumber production in the interior is less than 20 percent of the average annual softwood lumber consumption in Alaska. The dispersed nature of harvestable timber and the attendant poor access are major obstacles to increasing the interior's softwood lumber production. A long-term alternative is to convert hardwood types and black spruce type to contiguous stands of white spruce.

Citation

Sampson, George R.; van Hees, Willem W.S.; Setzer, Theodore S.; Smith, Richard C. 1988. Potential for forest products in interior Alaska. Res. Bull. PNW-RB-153. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 28 p