Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 21/05) - Firewood is getting so hard to find even the premier has to scrounge around for it.

Stands of deadwood abound nearby but autumn still finds Yellowknifers scurrying about pleading, cajoling - anything to get a truckfull of firewood dropped at their door before winter sets in.

"I buy it wherever I can get a hold of it," says Premier Joe Handley, who supplements the in-floor heating at his Ingraham Trail home with two or three cords of wood every year.

This year, he managed to get a load of wood in from Checkpoint near Fort Simpson in eight-foot lengths. It cost him about $250 a cord - about the average these days. In other years, he had wood shipped in from Hay River.

"I also paid one of my constituents from Dettah to bring me two cords of wood (but) I don't know if it will show up," said Handley.

"I don't usually pay for it in advance but the guy needed money... That was a few weeks ago now."

A little further down the road from Handley, Brad Heath said he recently stopped a guy parked downtown with a load of wood in his truck, but to no avail.

He's got about a cord leftover at his cabin from last winter, but figures he will need a couple more to make it through this one. No panic yet, he says.

"But it would be nice to get some," says Heath. "Do you know anybody?"

There is one regular supplier in town. Arctic Farmer Landscaping sells wood cut in the southwest corner of the NWT at $300 a cord,

Owner Darwin Rudkevitch said the price may go even higher if gasoline prices continue to rise.

"There's not a lot of profit in wood," says Rudkevitch.

"With the wood it enables us to keep three guys on staff, doing the snow removal and the other stuff that we do. If we were to count on strictly wood we wouldn't be able to do it."

Yellowknife resident Arthur Boutilier says the higher price of wood at Arctic Farmer is worth it.

He was growing tired of being "nickled and dimed" by other wood dealers who would sell him short or leave him waiting around with nothing stocked up in the carport.

"Arctic Farmer is the first square shooter that did us good," said Boutilier.

"That to me was worth the extra dollar."

He said he has his wood stacked and ready for winter. Boutilier and his wife burned their first wood fire last week.

Of course, there is nothing stopping people from going out and cutting their own wood. A woodcutting permit is free from the department of Environment and Natural Resources. It's good for up to 15 cords, but forestry officer Roger Fraser says the backbreaking work usually stops people from harvesting anywhere near that amount.

"It's tough," says Fraser.

"I don't think most people get what they're allotted. They come and ask for five cords of wood and they realize it's not as easy as people think."

Fraser said the North Slave forestry office has so far issued about 900 cords-worth of residential permits this year, and another 600 cords-worth for commercial harvesters.

More chopping permits

He said it seems like more people are getting permits this fall because they want to save on higher fuel prices.

Commercial harvesters, meanwhile, are unable to keep up with the demand.

"I just talked to one of the woodcutters here in town and he says he has got a list as long as his arm," said Fraser.

Regan and Elsbeth Fielding have just moved into a tiny shack in the Woodyard. They plan to burn wood this winter, but are a little apprehensive.

"You used to be able to get a cord of hardwood in Ontario for $40," says Regan Fielding.

"It's going to be tricky. You don't want to run out," he says of the chilly months ahead.