Ketchikan Pulp Company

Ketchikan Pulp Company was a pulp mill located on the north shore of Ward Cove, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Ketchikan, in the U.S. state of Alaska. Owned by Louisiana-Pacific, it operated between 1954 and 1997.^[1] It was the last pulp mill to operate in the state.^[2]

Along with a mill in Sitka, the mill was built as part of a U.S. Forest Service economic development program for Southeast Alaska. Feedstock for the mill was harvested from the Tongass National Forest under subsidized 50-year supply contracts. This became controversial in the late 1980s, due to environmental concerns with the scale of old-growth forest harvesting and criticism of the multimillion-dollar subsidies. In 1990, the Tongass Timber Reform Act directed the agency to terminate the long-term timber contracts, and both mills closed shortly thereafter. The last bale of pulp paper to come off the mill is on display at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan.

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