Establishing forests allows for more active forest management and provides confidence to forest investors, including the Division of Forestry, that investments into forest activities (reforestation, roads, bridges, etc.) will be protected for future use.

Establishing state forests maximizes the sustainable supply of timber from the state timber base. The primary purpose in establishing state forests is timber management that provides for the production, utilization, and replenishment of timber resources while allowing other beneficial uses of public land and resources (AS 41.17.200).

Currently, these lands are managed as general state land and can be put to other uses in the future – like conveyed as subdivisions or agriculture lands. However, these lands were identified as forest classified because of their productivity potential for growing timber. Moving management to DOF places the primary focus to timber management instead of just general land management.

These are two separate projects. The Susitna Forestry Guidelines need to be updated with a Forest Management Plan to reflect changes that have occurred since the Guidelines were written. The process of creating the Susitna Valley Forest Plan is independent of the process to create a Susitna Valley State Forest. The Susitna Valley State Forest proposal requires the legislature to designate the lands as a state forest.

Generally, yes. The lands under consideration for a Susitna Valley State Forest are expected to be very similar to the map of forest classified lands in the Susitna Forestry Guidelines and the new Susitna Valley Forest Management Plan. We are currently assessing whether all of the forest classified lands are appropriate to be included as a state forest. We expect this analysis to be complete within the next several weeks.

To see the map of the Susitna Valley Forest Plan, visit the planning page under the project overview at https://forestry.alaska.gov/SusitnaValleyFP/

Active Forest Management is the intentional, planned, and science-based actions that foresters engage in to meet society’s needs of forested ecosystems. These actions include silvicultural methods and forest management practices that reach objectives and set forests on a successional trajectory toward a desired future condition. Active management, as opposed to passive management, is more effective at increasing forest resiliency toward the impacts of a changing climate such as mitigation of wildfires and controlling forest diseases and pests, while also providing for a sustainable supply of forest products and access to public lands.

• Active Forest Management provides many benefits to society including diversified wildlife habitat, essential wood products, regulation of water quantity and quality, and the ability to adapt forests to a changing climate.
• Active Forest Management resets and modifies a forest’s natural succession to meet desired outcomes. Through science-based techniques, forestry professionals can foster and maintain the natural function of the forest ecosystem while providing renewable resources to meet the needs of our state’s population.
• Passive Forest Management is a preservation approach to managing forests where the lack of management activities perpetuates current forest conditions until a natural disturbance introduces successional change. Disturbance severity may lead to conditions that are not ideal for the reestablishment of forested ecosystems.

Long-term active management of the forests will derive greater value for Alaskans over generations.

The following are examples of active forest management activities:

1. Maximizing the sustainable supply of timber from the state timber base is one example of active forest management. The primary purpose in establishing state forests is timber management that provides for the production, utilization, and replenishment of timber resources while allowing other beneficial uses of public land and resources (AS 41.17.200).
2. Breaking up large fuel types to prevent major wildfires and protect values on the landscape:
   • access provides for a quicker, less costly response by allowing road access to areas that previously would only be accessible by air
   • forest roads can serve as fire breaks and allow for staging areas
   • allow for more planned fuel breaks, where the timber can be harvested
   • wildland / urban interface protection
3. Engaging in active reforestation efforts of conifer and hardwood species (i.e., natural regeneration and planting seeds or young trees).
4. Intermediate treatment such as pre-commercial thinning and commercial thinning
   • Pre-commercial thinning no market for material
   • Commercial thinning there is a market for material

Active forest management promotes a variety of forest ages by allowing timber harvesting through healthy timber harvest rotation. This promotes a diverse and healthy wildlife habitat that provides different forest age classes that create different microclimates and vegetation structures, offering diverse food sources, nesting sites, and cover for animals.

Some animals thrive in young, open forests with dense undergrowth, while others prefer the shaded canopy of mature forests

• Young forests – ideal for deer, rabbits, and grouse that rely on open areas for feeding and movement
• Mid-aged forests – good habitat for small mammals that need dense cover
• Old-growth forests – large mammals and various bird species
• Moose and other deer will benefit from the variety of all of these successional stages

Diverse age classes across the landscape promotes resiliency from forest disturbance

• As an example, forest pests have less of an impact in younger stands
• Moose browse in early successional forests (young forests)

Yes! State Forests are managed for multiple use. You will most likely even have more access since State Forests are actively managed to allow for timber harvests, which usually requires road access.

No. State Forests are managed for sustained yield (AS 41.17.220 (1)). “Sustained yield” means the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resources of forest land and water without significant impairment of the productivity of the land and water, but doesn’t require that the timber be harvested in non-declining yield basis over a rotation period (AS 41.17.950(26)).

The lands proposed to be included in the Susitna Valley State Forest and the expansion of the Tanana Valley State Forest were pre-identified in the associated land management plans as forest classified lands. These lands are conducive to growing healthy forests. The primary purpose in establishing State Forests is timber management that provides for the production, utilization, and replenishment of timber resources while allowing other beneficial uses of public land and resources (AS 41.17.200).

A contiguous State Forest would require encompassing lands that are not forest classified and not conducive to growing healthy forests. This would not be consistent with the primary purpose of establishing a State Forest. Instead, these non-forest classified lands can be put to other beneficial uses more consistent with their land type.