Firewood availability in Puna???

[1voyager1]

Hi folks I'm making my first post here.
I am in the process of planning a move to the Puna area of Big Island.
While the typical temps found at the higher elevations are, by my present standards [Alaska], of little concern to me. Except that after becoming acclimated to BI's climate, I might find an occasional morning where some heat would be a nice thing to have.
My question is:
Just how available is firewood?
My feeling is that it is or will become a rather scarce resource. I envision that one spends more effort looking for and obtaining rights to it than cutting, splitting and hauling it.
Am I mistaken?

[dayna]

Hello and welcome from a fellow alaskan! We are making the move to the Big Island in May! What part of AK are you from, we are in Juneau.

I'm planning on having a fireplace when we build our house and we have property up in Volcano, anything lower and I'd prolly not need heat. I do wear sweatshirts in Hawaii. People look at me funny, I'm always cold. I wear sweatshirts in Cabo San Lucas. lol

Maybe plan on having a few duralogs for the fireplace rather than trying to source wood?

Dayna

www.JasonAndBlue.com
My artwork

[1voyager1]

Hi dayna
We're in Los Anchorage.
I've been in Ak. for over 30 years now.
It's time for a change.
We'll be moving the summer after next when I turn 70 and quit working.
We'll see about that, quitting I mean.
Talk is cheap
We don't spend much time playing outdoors in the winter any more.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to stay here much longer.

I am not enamored with the idea of having a fireplace/wood stove,
but am thinking that they might have their uses.
I'm so acclimated to Ak that when it gets up to 40°F in the spring, it's t-shirt weather.
Then, when the temps go over 75°F I can hardly move from heat prostration.
But, I can get used to BI's climate given time.
We use Duraflames at my gal friend's place.
But, they're only for ambiance.
I would never use them for serious heating.
I'll bet that they're even less cost effective over there than here.

[dayna]

Anchorage?! I'm so sorry! haha I kid I kid.

Anchorage has it's uses, but not for folks like us I'd bet.

For us, we dont' mind the rain at all, but the winters are really getting to us. That and the kind of rain we have here in SE Alaska is the "not go outside in it" kind of rain. We loved the rain in Puna! It's WARM, kinda like taking a shower. LOL

Hope you are able to quit working and make the move!


Dayna

www.JasonAndBlue.com
My artwork

[1voyager1]

Quote dayna:
"Anchorage?! I'm so sorry! haha I kid I kid."
I don't believe that.
Mainly because I'm in agreement.

I only live here because I like the amenities of being near a larger urban area ...
lower prices on more things available, employment opportunities, etc.
All my recreation and a lot of my work is away from town.
So, I just live on the edges of it.

Quitting working is a function of keeping myself occupied.
If I find other things to keep me busy, I won't need to work.
I'm not too worried about it.

I spent a number of years living on the West side of the Olympic Peninsula where it gets 240" a year.
I also spent a lot of time recreating in PWS.
Precipitation, especially WARM precipitation, doesn't phase me in the least.
Warm wind and rain, that's paradise.

[dayna]

Buy a parcel of land. You won't have to worry about working to keep yourself occupied. You'll be too busy chasing weeds and growing yummy food.



Dayna

www.JasonAndBlue.com
My artwork

[Carey]

If you do not mind smaller dia. wood, there is NO shortage of strawberry guava. I am sure if you ask most landowners with strawberry guava, they would allow you to thin out their crop. As a fruit wood, it is a good wood for meat smoking.

We have found that having a few fruit trees on our small lot does give us a quite bit of wood every year that we give to friends who live in the upper elevations. Being midwesterners that have yet to totally acclimate, & living in the lower elevations, have yet to even THINK about heating - but do sorta miss the glow of a fireplace...but not enough yet to bother with the work! (kinda like snow & shoveling... one is nice, the other is work!)

PS. Dayna, will you still want some Manilla Palms, we have another batch of seedlings that will need something done with them...

[pslamont]

There is plenty of firewood available from various resources. I put together a group that removed felled trees from peoples yards (there are more of these than you can imagine). We arrive with chain saws, buck up, and haul away the trees. We split the wood, store it in our metal "barn" to age it and then distribute it as needed to: First, older persons in need who can't afford to buy firewood; second, those who help us and want/need firewood; and third, leftover wood is sold to help offset the cost of gas, oil, chainsaws, etc.

So, once you are here, get in touch with me. Anyone and everyone is welcome to help and get a share of wood. It's the Hawaiian way via my own interpretation: Share what you have in abundance. Aloha.

Pam Lamont 345 8440

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[1voyager1]

@ dayna
That is pretty much the plan.

@ Carey
That is interesting, the fruit wood aspect of the strawberry guava.
It leads to other questions concerning firearms and hunting.
I'll pose those in their own thread though.
I agree: I love it when it snows, but reuse to own a snow shovel.
Small dia. wood may not be a bad thing.
It's not as if one would need to keep a fire going all day and/or night.
I see the need as being for a quick hot fire just to take the morning chill off,
but not much more than that, so large quantities would not be mandatory.
That thought also relieves much of my concern about firewood.
I have used wood as a sole heat source on occasion.
I was thinking in terms of needing to put in "cords" of wood which I think might be a bit over-kill even for the Volcano area.

@ pslamont
That is a good viable option.
I'll keep it in mind.
We'll be back for our next winter break,
but only to do an on-the-ground assessment of areas and properties,
basically a full-dress rehearsal of what we'll be doing after we actually make the move 6 mos. to a year later,
so actual participation is quite a way off right now.

[terracore]

Is albezia wood any good for burning in a fireplace?