Hoonah Logger Working a Chainsaw

Beginning in the 1980s, logging was a major portion of Hoonah's economy.  The logging roads made it easier to travel further and harvest deer.  Since Whitestone Logging shut down in the mid 2000s, a new timber operaion, Icy Straits Lumber and Milling, opened.  With about a dozen employees, Icy Straits Lumber and Milling produces "everything from high value-added woodworking products such as clocks, paper weights, and novelty signs to wood log homes, all produced from scrap timber that comes right from his backyard. In addition to local private projects, the sawmill also processes wood for larger customers in the Juneau area such as the Soboleff Center, Mount Roberts Tram, Heritage Coffee Shop, Mendenhall Glacier Gift Shop, State and Forest Service cabins, picnic shelters, and tables."  From An Intimate Portrait of Southeast Alaska’s Sawmills, By Heidi Bohi, 2017.