Newbie Intro from Yukon

[LeeB]

A few more clues about your regular job and I'll start making guesses. Maybe a piano player somewhere.

[customsawyer]

Welcome to the forum.

[SwampDonkey]

A few more clues about your regular job and I'll start making guesses. Maybe a piano player somewhere.

I think he picks diamonds, although maybe not far enough east. ;D Could be gold panning.  ;)

Welcome to the forum Doug. Great pictures and I would say that a good many folks up your way thank God for the service of milling lumber and firewood. What would be the closest commercial sawmill in the area? I'm sure a town of any size up there does have a sawmill, but the local market is too small to sell all their lumber. That means shipping the stuff and that probably bites the profit pretty hard. So smaller operations on part time looks to me to fit right in. Looks like a win win to me. 

[DGK]

Hello Swamp Donkey,

The nearest commercial sawmill is about 100 miles away in Haines Junction. They are milling both the beetle killed spruce and some green spruce at their mill. It is a pretty small show that went broke once already. Unfortunately, there are no lumber graders in the Yukon so all of your stamped lumber comes from down south. Yes, lumber prices are high here. The going rate for rough spruce is between .85 cents and $1.00 bf depending on size, quantity etc. Down in Watson Lake, Yukon there have been several attempts at running a larger mill but none have had much success. Timber supply availability and quality seem to be a factor.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, I can see the dilemma. Government and the big players want to go big, but it's a tough climate to guarantee continual supply and the growth rate is slow. Also, not many loggers and as indicated by no one being certified to grade, tough to get anyone to stick around to do it unless unionized with huge wage incentives that can't be sustained. They are also competing with the Alberta oil fields, same as BC. I never found the wages in the BC forest industry to be any better, and in some cases not as good as back east if you were a forester and non union. Consultant wages were at the bottom, where most folks went to start their careers. Governments have never sustained a work force payroll any better than the big companies. Been laying off and cutting now since the 80's with some outfits expecting 60 hours work for 40 hours pay. :