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Sqle of Timber in Tongqss Forest Will Give Alqskq Third Pulp Mill

Alaska's third pulp rnill will result from granting of a preliminary award to the Georgia-Pacific Alaska Corporation of 7l billion board feet of timber in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska, the U. S. Department of Agriculture announced.

The subsidiary of the Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company of Portland, Ore., bid $2.80 a thousand board feet for Sitka spruce and $1.70 a thousand board feet for western hemlock and cedar. The Forest Service estimates that if this rate of payment continued throughout the SO-year sale period, $15 million would be added to the federal treasury.

The timber sale contract calls for the construction of the pulp mill in the vicinity of the sale area. It will process at least 100,000,000 board feet of timber a year. By 1981 the minimum annual requirement will be 160,000,000 board feet. The timber is located in a 500,000 acre area in the vicinity of Admiralty Island and the southern end of Lynn Canal. Principal nearby communities are Juneau and Douglas.

This Juneau sale which is part of the Forest Service program to help in the economic development of Alaska, is the third large pulp sale in the territory. The first for 8r/a blllion board feet of timber was made to the Ketchikan Pulp Company in 19,8. Its $50 million pulp plant has been in full scale operation for more than a year. The second, for approximately 3 billion board feet was made last year to the Pacific Northern Timber Company.