The Tanana Valley State Forest’s (TVSF) 1.81 million acres lie almost entirely within the Tanana River Basin, located in the east-central part of Alaska. The Forest extends 265 miles, from near the Canadian border to Manley Hot Springs. It varies in elevation from 275 feet along the Tanana River to over 5,000 feet in the Alaska Range. The Tanana River flows for 200 miles through the Forest. Almost 90 percent of the State Forest (1.59 million acres) is forested, mostly with paper birch, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, black spruce, white spruce, and tamarack. About half of the Tanana Basin’s productive forest land (1.1 million acres) is located within the State Forest. About 85 percent of the forest is within 20 miles of a state highway.
The Forest is open to mining, gravel extraction, oil and gas leasing, and grazing, although very little is done. Timber production is the major commercial activity. The Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, a 12,400-acre area dedicated to forestry research, is also located within the TVSF.
The TVSF offers many recreational opportunities including hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, dog mushing, cross-country skiing, wildlife viewing, snow machining, gold panning, boating, and berry-picking.
The TVSF Management Plan was updated in 2001. The update included recommendations for changes to the boundaries of the State Forest. As a part of that package, the plan recommended some of the deletions from the State Forest to be added to the Minto State Game Refuge. The Legislature adopted these proposed boundary changes in 2008.
