Alaska’s forest fish: Calculating the value of wild salmon from the Chugach and Tongass National Forests

Forests provide a suite of goods and services that are vital to human health and livelihoods. Studies of ecosystem services, which frequently attempt to place a monetary value on forest processes and organisms, can help inform management decisions by providing a baseline for discussing the costs and benefits of different management options.

A recent study by Pacific Northwest Research Station researchers, Adelaide “Di” Johnson and Ryan Bellmore, along with retired Forest Service fisheries biologist Ron Medel and Alaska Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist Stormy Haught, aimed to quantify the number and monetary value of commercially caught Pacific salmon from Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach National Forests. These two national forests contain some of the world’s largest remaining tracts of intact temperate rain forest.

Between 2007 and 2016, the Tongass and Chugach supported harvests of approximately 48 million salmon per year, valued at more than $88 million annually. This comprised approximately 25 percent of all commercially caught salmon in Alaska and 16 percent of its total monetary value. Quantitative information about the value of Alaska’s national forests for fish production can contribute to discussions about management decisions that might influence the capacity of these forests to sustain Pacific salmon in the future.

Citation

McDaniel, Josh; Johnson, Adelaide (Di); Bellmore, J. Ryan; Haught, Stormy; Medel, Ron. 2020. Alaska s forest fish: Calculating the value of wild salmon from the Chugach and Tongass National Forests. Science Findings 234. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 5 p.

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