Unalaska, Alaska: Revisiting North America's Oldest Afforestation Effort

The first North American attempt to grow a stand in a treeless area was an 1805 Russian planting of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) in Unalaska Bay in the Aleutian Islands. Although the Russians envisioned a future timber supply for fur traders and other settlers, the trees grew slowly, regeneration was absent until after 1950, and over the years many trees died. Several other afforestation efforts have been made in the area, but because the challenges of latitude and climate dictate careful selection of seedlings and site, results have been mixed. Today the 1805 planting, with its three surviving trees and their offspring, is a national historic landmark.