Gordon Chew
SEACC visited the Tenakee Logging Company (TLC), a small mill operated by Gordon Chew and his son Sterling. Gordon has been operating TLC for four years and recently began logging a new site in Corner Bay. He produces high quality cedar, hemlock, and spruce lumber for buyers in and around the Tenakee Springs area. Gordon showed us around and shared his experiences as a small mill operator.
Where is most of your wood sourced from?
Most of my wood comes from the Tenakee Springs area where I purchase small sales from the US Forest Service to selectively harvest. My specialty is high quality, old-growth cedar products, though I also harvest spruce and hemlock.
Who are the primary consumers of your products?
The vast majority of my products are purchased for use in the Tenakee Springs area and I would like to eventually expand to have more customers in Juneau. I supply both individual orders for household projects and additions as well as provide lumber for projects around town like the recent renovation of the church.
Why did you decide to open a small mill?
Before I opened my mill, I worked as a carpenter and thought it was inefficient that Tenakee and other small towns imported the wood they used for all their building projects.
The “buy local” mantra has such a different meaning in Southeast because the distances are so great and I think it makes economic and ecological sense to supply lumber locally. I saw a business opportunity in that logic and I decided to capitalize on that. I also wanted to be part of a different part of the production process. Most of us are consumers: we buy lumber and don’t know where it came from and who cut it. As a mill operator, I am intimately tied with an entirely new part of the production process, which is incredibly satisfying.
What is the most rewarding thing about your work?
Working out in the woods is incredibly peaceful and I think that tranquility influences my work.
The places that I cut are still beautiful to look at and are a good habitat, and that makes me feel good about the work I do.
I face certain challenges because of that commitment, but I would never give that aspect of my operation up. Anyone who comes out here has to have some kind of consciousness and some kind of desire to preserve this place.
What is it like running a family business and working with your son?
I think working with Sterling has been really rewarding, and we work well together and have a lot in common. This timber work has been really fun for both of us, and I’m glad I get to be with him working out here every day.There are also a lot of generational challenges that we have to navigate as a father/son outfit, and even though it isn’t always easy, working through those struggles together—as business partners and as family—has been something that is a unique part of my operation.
Talk about your relationship with the USFS.
Working with the Forest Service has been great and I feel like we share a lot of the same commitments and ideas about what good forestry is. Both my sale administrator and I think that a well-managed and well-used forest is a beautiful thing, and that shared vision is priceless. My sale administrator has taken the time to really understand my equipment, and he won’t sell me timber I can’t use. Because Sterling and I take leaving unusable trees up very seriously, this has been important to my operation and has helped me continue to feel good about the work I’m doing out here. I also feel as though I have a lot to offer them. I come out here every day and care about the forest in the same way they do, and in that sense I can extend some of the goals and values they have as a large administration into the work I do as a small operation.
Where do you see your business going in the future?
I would like to produce more value-added products. Wes and Sue [Tyler, who operate another small mill in Hoonah,] do some of that and it would be great if I could integrate some of my skills as a carpenter back into my business now. That goal will not only allow me to make more of a profit from my wood, but also allow me to oversee more of the production process, and be more intimately involved in transforming forest products into finished ones.
