Overview of the Industry

A synopsis based on Forest Products: Sector Report, a complete review of the economic data describing this industry from the Alaska Economic Database The forest products sector in Alaska includes harvesting and processing of timber by the Jogging, lumber , and pulp industries. Most harvesting is in southern coastal regions of Alaska, primarily in the Tongass National Forest and on private Native corporation lands. Some harvesting also occurs on state government lands. Logging activities on federal lands provide raw material for the state's lumber and pulp mills. Two pulp mills in Ketchikan and Sitka produce high-grade dissolving pulp primarily for export markets. Logging activities on Native corporation lands produce most of the softwood logs exported from Alaska to foreign countries. (There is little commercial hardwood logging in Alaska.) Like the petroleum sector, the wood products sector is vertically integrated, which means that the same companies typically harvest and process forest products. Most of the timber harvested In Alaska is sold to sawmills, which produce cants and finished lumber for outside processors and sell wood chips and logs to pulp mills inside Alaska. In recent years, pulpwood has also been sold to Canadian mills. Most products-softwood logs, processed lumber, and pulpwood-are exported to Pacific Rim markets. Despite record export values in 1988, Alaska still accounts for only 5 percent of the total value of Jog and lumber exports to Pacific Rim nations. In 1988, the forest products sector contributed 1.6 percent of total state employment, 2.3 percent of wages and salaries, and 0.3 percent of the gross state product. Of the basic sectors, only mineral mining and agriculture contributed Jess. However, the average annual wage in the forest products industry is 37 percent higher than the state average. Even though the sector has expanded since 1968, and 1988 production was at the highest level since statehood, the sector has a relatively small impact on the total state economy. It ranks behind the federal government, petroleum, fishing, and tourism. Because of its regional concentration, however, it is a leading industry in Southeast Alaska. Production Alaska timber harvests were at a record level in 1988: a total of 964 million board feet (MMbf) was harvested on private, state, and federal lands. That represented a 26 percent increase over 1978, the lowest harvest year since the early 1960s. As shown in Figure 1, harvests of Alaskan timber have ranged from 400 to 600 million …