Pursuing the profits of value-added timber products.

• Author: Williamson, Elaine B.
• Position: Alaskan Wood Products

Pursuing The Profits Of Value-Added Timber Products

BEFORE NORTH SLOPE crude, before coal or zinc mining or gold fields, even before furs, Alaska was recognized for its timber. A continuation of the great Pacific Northwest rainforests, these woodlands stretched from the shore to the 2,500-foot level of the mountain ranges. Today they look much the same as they did in 1741, when the first Russians stepped ashore on Alaska.

From the Kenai Peninsula alone, the Russians harvested nearly 3,000 board feet of lumber annually in the late 1700s. After the United States purchased Alaska, a single sawmill in Southeast cut 1.2 million board feet of logs in 1900.

The logs shipped from Alaska were turned into furniture, building supplies and other wood products. More importantly, uses for those logs created jobs in other parts of the United States and in foreign countries. But in Alaska, timber-related employment essentially meant cutting wood. By exporting its natural resources as raw materials, without manufacturing finished products, the state also was exporting jobs.

Today, the growing recognition of lost opportunities in the timber industry is generating support for turning timber into valued-added products and keeping jobs here in Alaska. By creating shingles, shakes, paneling, flooring, cabinetry--anything that adds value to the wood--profit as well as employment is increased.

Manufacturing wood products is a small but fast-growing industry in the state. Some companies and their value-added wood products:

* Star Cedar of Thorne Bay, cedar shakes and shingles;

* Black Bear Cedar Products of Thorne Bay, cedar shingles;

* Trapper Creek Timber of Wasilla, wood paneling;

* United Builders Supply of Anchorage, log home kits;

* Chugach Forest Products, owner of the Seward Sawmill, kiln-dried, dimensional lumber.

Alaska is rich in timber resource, with thousands of acres of wooded land within the state's boundaries. But much of the wooded land is owned by the federal government, which is responsible for defining uses. One complication is land transfers under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act have not been completed. Until ownership and usage of the land is finalized, a consistent source of raw material won't be available.

For instance, the Tongass National Forest covers 80 percent of Southeast Alaska. Its 17 million acres--greater in size than the states of Maryland, New Hampshire and Vermont combined--make it the largest national forest. Mandated for multiple use (recreational and commercial use), it is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the U.S. Forest Service.

Timber policy for the Tongass was set in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which stipulated, among other...