Potential for Progress: Alaska's commercial timber industry requires federal support.

• Author: Graham, Owen J.
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION Resource Development

There's great potential for the commercial timber industry in Alaska, although as with any industry there are challenges. What does exist of the Alaska commercial timber industry can be organized into two regions, Interior or Coastal, each with their own opportunities and difficulties.

Interior Region

The Interior region has more than 100 million acres of hardwood and softwood timber, of which roughly 7 million acres is considered commercial timberland that can be managed for sustainable forestry operations. Most of this commercial timberland is isolated and costly to access; however, the Tanana Valley State Forest includes about 2 million acres of timberland located along an arc that runs from the Canadian border through the communities of Tok, Big Delta, Fairbanks, Nenana, and as far west as Manley Hot Springs. This forest is relatively accessible, at least by Alaska standards, and includes both road and rail options for portions of the region. Many of the roads in the forest are winter roads due to the numerous water bodies and broad floodplains that can only be economically accessed during winter months.

In addition to public lands, there are private forestlands owned by several Alaska Native Corporations intermixed with the Tanana Valley State Forest. Some of these lands are actively managed for forestry activities, especially in the Tok and Nenana regions. There are also commercial forest lands managed by the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the University of Alaska Trust Land Office. While the acreage under active management is relatively small, there is potential for increased activity across the region.

The forest currently sustains a small timber industry focused on meeting the needs of local communities for a variety of wood products. There are already several small regional sawmills that produce lumber, timber, house logs, and poles for commercial and residential construction. The largest mill in the region, Northland Wood, located in Fairbanks, produces high-quality, dried and graded lumber from the region's white spruce forests. A separate Alaska lumber grade stamp was developed and approved for this product, as it was previously lumped in with pine and fir species known at the Spruce/Pine/Fir or SPF grade. White Spruce has better strength characteristics due to Alaska's slower growing conditions and it was beneficial to differentiate this characteristic. There is also new investment occurring at Young's Timber near Tok where a range of products are produced including log cabin kits and homes. A facility located in the community of Dry Creek, Milling and Associates, produces similar high-quality products and has built custom log homes throughout Alaska. Of special note, several years ago Milling and Associates shipped two complete cabins in kit...