Alaska’s state seal depicts trees as symbols of Alaska’s timber resources. However, it’s not clear what kind of trees they are. But there’s no question what Alaska’s state tree is.
The Sitka spruce (picea sitchensis), which is recognized as the most valuable tree species in Alaska and which is found in both national forests of the state, is designated the official tree of the State of Alaska.
Approved February 28, 1962
So reads House Bill 325. It’s about the only information I’ve ever found about the adoption of Alaska’s state tree.
I once spoke to an old-timer from Alaska who said some people thought the white spruce was more appropriate. The two national forests the Sitka spruce grows in are in south-central and southeastern Alaska. The Sitka spruce is a resident of the coastal rainforest that extends from Alaska south into California. It’s not a species you would encounter in Alaska’s vast interior, let alone western Alaska or the Arctic.
The Sitka spruce is certainly more impressive than the white spruce. In fact, it’s the world’s biggest and fastest-growing spruce. A specimen three hundred and five feet high was recorded. The biggest trees are generally found in Washington State’s Olympic rainforest area.
The Sitka spruce also has the greatest north-south spread of any spruce. From California, it grows along a great arc nearly two thousand miles long, ending in Alaska’s Kodiak Island.
Anyone with additional information about the adoption of the Sitka spruce is invited to contact me.
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