Forest Practices
The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection is responsible for making sure that the Alaska Forest Resources and Practices Act (FRPA) is implemented and enforced. FRPA governs how timber harvesting, reforestation, and timber access occur on state, private, and municipal land.
The Act is designed to protect fish habitat and water quality, and ensure prompt reforestation of forestland while providing for a healthy timber industry. The FRPA ensures that both the timber and commercial fishing industries can continue to provide long-term jobs.
Alaska's State Forests and Management Plans
About two percent of Alaska's state-owned land is in three designated state forests, the Haines State Forest, the Southeast State Forest and the Tanana Valley State Forest. In addition to these designated state forests, much of the state's land is available for multiple uses, including forest management.
Timber Management and Timber Sales
The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection manages forests for multiple uses and sustained yield of renewable resources on 20 million acres of state land. This includes the Tanana Valley State Forest, the Southeast State Forest and the Haines State Forest. The Division conducts personal use, commercial timber, and fuelwood sales. It emphasizes in-state use of wood for value-added processing.
Forest Road and Bridge Standards
The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection constructs and maintains forest roads on State Forest as well as other State land in support of forest management activities. The division's Road and Bridge Standards are designed to meet safety and engineering guidelines for forest roads used by the public and industrial users.
Community Forestry
The mission of the Community Forestry program is to help communities build effective, self-sustaining community forestry and tree care programs with strong local support. The program fosters partnerships between government agencies, businesses, and volunteers to promote and improve community forests throughout the state.
Conservation Education
The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection's Conservation Education program uses different curricula to teach environmental education to students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. "Project Learning Tree" uses examples from the forest to prepare students to make informed decisions about conservation practices and natural resource use. "Fire in Alaska" teaches lessons about fire ecology, fire behavior, fire prevention, and home defense. "Tapping into Spring" is a birch tree tapping project.
Forest Stewardship
The Forest Stewardship program is a federally funded program administered by the Division of Forestry & Fire Protection. The goals are to help non-industrial private forest owners develop a 10-year management plan for their land and to support implementation of appropriate forest management practices.
Forest Health / Insects and Disease
The Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DOF) Forest Health Protection program provides:
- pest mitigation and control advice
- forest insect research
- periodic ground surveys
- pest assessments
- monitoring of economic forest pests throughout Alaska's forested region.
