Advice for sourcing logs near Talkeetna Alaska?

[AlaskaChris]

Hello!  New to the forum, and fairly new to milling too.

I'm staying with a friend that's teaching me how to use his Mobile Dimension mill (picture below). Wanted to introduce myself and also wondering if anyone here has any suggestions for sourcing logs in the North Sustina area? We're looking for anything interesting, the bigger the better.

Thanks!
Chris




 

[Jeff]

Im going to say welcome, and also letting you know, you probably should read the posting rules, as this is basically a wanted post which is not allowed in this manner and normally would be removed.

[Nebraska]

By all those "Alaska'" shows on tv don't you just go out in a skiff and throw a rope  and float it back??

Welcome btw sorry  I'm no help....

[barbender]

In general, advertise in your area. Idk how effective Craigslist or Facebook marketplace are up there, but whatever folks are looking at is where you want to advertise. Is there commercial logging in the area? Talk to the agencies that handle timber sales and get the names of some loggers. Be prepared to to take the risk, like paying for the wood before it leaves the landing, until you have enough of a relationship with the logger that they will deliver it and get paid. 

[AlaskaChris]

Im going to say welcome, and also letting you know, you probably should read the posting rules, as this is basically a wanted post which is not allowed in this manner and normally would be removed.

Sorry about that!  I was tempted to put it in Wanted, but my question was more about advice on the process that may be unique to Alaska, not specific leads.  Apologies!

By all those "Alaska'" shows on tv don't you just go out in a skiff and throw a rope  and float it back??

Welcome btw sorry  I'm no help....

We're inland, so no skiffs, but you're right that there's no shortage of logs up here. The really huge old growth logs are further south on the coast.  We're trying to figure out how we can get some of those up here.

In general, advertise in your area. Idk how effective Craigslist or Facebook marketplace are up there, but whatever folks are looking at is where you want to advertise. Is there commercial logging in the area? Talk to the agencies that handle timber sales and get the names of some loggers. Be prepared to to take the risk, like paying for the wood before it leaves the landing, until you have enough of a relationship with the logger that they will deliver it and get paid.

This is exactly the advice I was looking for.  I'll knew I had to figure out how to develop relationships with the loggers, but had no idea how to find them.  Thanks!

[tule peak timber]

Besides loggers just plain old truckers, as they will know where to get logs also. You also need to be able to handle logs once they get to you. What do you have they want? Probably meat, fish, pelts, etc. that make good relationship builders as well as money of course. Offer to saw wood for them also. In your winter canning, jerky, smoked goods, and furniture building. Do you have the ability to store fuel? I bed and breakfast and fuel some of the log delivery guys because without them I wouldn't have a business. Conversely, I have access to one-of-a-kind material through them.
  It took me years to develop contacts. Let's make a deal .........

[WV Sawmiller]

  Welcome. Since your mill has Mobile in the name I assume you are portable and can go to the site. If so you might check with the building supply people in the area and see if they can help point you to any new homes being built in the area where people will be clearing trees for home sites and such. You might be able to get logs from them or even saw on their site. They may even pay for the service. Good luck.

[Crossroads]

Welcome! Sorry I'll be of not much help other than, I believe Alaska still allows you to harvest 10 mbf per year for subsistence. I have no idea what that process looks like. On a lighter note, I'll be in your neck of the woods next week for a bucket list moose hunt.

[DennisK]

Go out to the airport, check with a charter service and ask where someone might be clear cutting nearby. Been 30 plus years since i've been there, Hudson Air was the oldest at the time, maybe still around.

[kantuckid]

Welcome!

FWIW, having been to and stayed in Gakona, AK I have a bumper sticker on a tool cabinet in my woodshop from your place.

It says: "Gakona, A small drinking village with a "fishing" problem". I/we did a bit of both while we were there a few years back.  ;D Lucky you...

I edited the above message as I had the used the wrong village above comments! Oh well, I tried? In fact I couldn't remember and googled to see the same message on a tee-shirt but it had Talkeetna on it. Actually I've been to both places...

[Brandon1986]

Hey bud, maybe I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been in and around the logging industry in South Central Alaska since I was in a car seat (set on a milk crate) in dads old self loading 1956 Autocar log truck (right around late 1987).  As you may have seen our area has been recently hammered with Spruce bark beetles, and as far as I can tell, you won't find a good stand of saw logs in our area for a long time to come.  Your best bet I figure, is to see what's popping down on the peninsula where a lot of local loggers have moved their set ups for a while. 

I've been moving on to finding purposes for cottonwood and really nice birch slabs for my mill in Wasilla..

[Bullheaded]

Chris,
I am just getting back from Alaska. Went up 'Boo hunting in 13B for week. Spent a lot of time in the air scouting and joyriding after the hunt. If I remember correctly there was a lot of bigger spruce and cottonwood south of Talkeetna on the highway. Lots of bigger birch up near the burn north of you. Seems like a lot of bigger stuff on the Richardson Hwy east of you too. The amount of big spruce killed by the bark beetles in Hope Pass was sad. I estimated 75%. Though most was completely inaccessible. There was a new mill set up on the highway in Moose Pass that had mountains of full length logs yarded up.

[rocket18k]

having spent more than a couple summers in alaska and being familiar with the talkeetna area all the way over to chicken, delta junction and down to homer... you got the wrong mill for that area. best to set up down toward sitka or bc imo. you have a saw mill made for large logs hundreds of miles from large logs. i did see a few decent trees around willow... other than that... forget about it.