About the Alaska Northern Forest Cooperative

The Alaska Northern Forest Cooperative was formed in 2003 through the efforts of the USDA Forest Service State & Private Forests Program, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. The three founding parties felt that many opportunities to exchange and share information about Alaska's northern forests were being missed. The group organized to exchange research based information among forest scientists, forest managers and forest landowners in northern Alaska. The term “northern forest” includes boreal forest and taiga extending over much of mainland Alaska but excludes the coastal spruce-fir forest. As human impacts and environmental change influence Alaska's northern forests this exchange of information will facilitate management of these vast forests as healthy, productive ecosystems.