Wes and Sue Tyler
Wes and Sue Tyler have been operating Icy Straits Lumber and Milling since 2003 and are committed to finding a balance between using the forest for their logging needs and ensuring that it provides a diversity of other uses. Below, they explain how their business model is affected by this outlook.
As residents of Hoonah, we are deeply invested in our community, and have always approached our business with the goal of creating beautiful value-added wood products and as many local jobs as possible from a small volume of wood. The Hoonah community is an intimate part of who we are—as people and as business owners—and we want to find ways for our business to continue to contribute to our local economy while providing for other uses of the forest as well.
Last May, we heard about the Forest Service’s new Transition Plan. It seems that the agency is moving away from a focus on large old growth timber sales, and moving towards restoration, stewardship, recreation, young growth, and renewable energy work.
The Hoonah community is an intimate part of who we are—as people and as business owners—and we want to find ways for our business to continue to contribute to our local economy while providing for other uses of the forest as well.
While we hope that the agency will continue to support micro and small old growth sales in the Hoonah area, we support this transition, and we see a lot of possibility for our business needs and the Transition Plan to work hand-in-hand.
In 2008, we worked with SEACC staff to develop the Hoonah Community Forest Project. The goal of this project was to create a sustainable balance between a variety of uses of the Hoonah landscape, based on ecological needs and the values of the community of Hoonah. As mill operators, we believe that small-scale logging can exist alongside healthy ecosystems as well as other forest and community needs: forest and stream restoration, recreation development, protection of important fish and wildlife habitat, and renewable energy and strive to achieve this balance through spearheading forest restoration projects as well as cabin construction to improve recreational opportunities in Hoonah.
In our minds, operating a small mill that contributes to the local economy and striving for the preservation of meaningful wild spaces are not opposing goals. Rather, our investment in our community and the surrounding ecosystem is integral to our business model and we are excited to continue our work.
