Delta Junction, wildlife, flies? (Fairbanks, Ketchikan: houses, buying, construction)

[jinj]

Thinking about moving to Delta Junction, have a job offer to work on the base there.

I love winters and have been to Whitehorse in March a few years back, went dog sledding on the rivers in quite chilly weather, loved it!

The cold doesn't bother me, but I want to see wildlife (not kill it) all year long, is that possible? I would like to go snowmobiling and see wildlife.

Are they eagles there in the Spring/Summer? Would I see bears going through my yard? Would I see wolves?

I want to buy an ok house on 5 acres, outside of town, would that be a grimey place to live? I don't want to live next door to a person that treats their place like a city dump, in their front yard.

I have been to Haines, Haines Junction, Whitehorse, Ketchikan, which city/village is Delta Junction most like of these listed? I don't like cities.

How bad are the flies in the Sprint/Summer, is it THAT bad? Do they make it unbearable? These would bother me more than any winter weather.

Is DSL available anywhere a phone line is available?

I live in rural Washington right now, see quite a few animals, would like to see more, think it would be a good move for that?

[Arcticthaw]

Well if you like cold then Delta is the place to live, when its not cold -65 then the wind chill is making it cold.

Yes there are animals, but bears don't wander too close unless you leave food or trash out. Then you could be fined.

My understanding that housing is limited, so you need to be making really good $$$ to afford one. With fuel getting close to $4. a gallon and having to travel 100 miles to shop, make sure your compensation package is worth it.

[stiffnecked]

I've spent sometime in Delta Junction. Nice houses and trash dump houses can be located next door to each other. Don't worry about what you neighbor is doing. If that really bothers you consider moving to Seattle or Portland. Nice weather, wildlife or nightlife it seemed the same, and strict code enforcement. You'll enjoy it much more.

[icarian]

Some others that have lived there for extended periods can probably provide a more personal view, but I can speak "somewhat" about wildlife. I've seen ALOT of wildlife just south of Delta Junction/Big Delta/Fort Greely. When talking south, I'm talking about along the Richardson Highway towards Donnelly Dome/Black Rapids, etc (the Rich goes through DJ south and the ALCAN starts in DJ and heads east towards Tok/Canada). Rather large herd of bison makes its home around Donnelly Dome (~15 miles south of DJ/Greely on the Rich) in the summer. Since the area is along the Tanana / Delta Rivers, quite a few moose...unfortunately, the largest herd is to the west of the DJ (in the Tanana Flats) which is harder to get to in the summer. Same for the elk herds (and of course sheep)--along the north side of the Alaska Range is where I normally see them in numbers. I know there are bears (blacks and browns around, but they are normal #s for the Interior...not like Kodiak down south). Now what I see is from the air when on MED standby down there...air is pretty much always easier to see the wildlife--take than in consideration. Only a snapshot, as ALWAYS, there are exceptions.

And I will say that DJ/Greely EASILY feels colder than up here in Fairbanks in the winter. That wind coming out of Isabel Pass is a real *(#$buster

[jinj]

Thanks for the replies.

Oh I don't care about what junk piles the neighbor has, aslong I have trees in the middle of the view.

How many months of the year does the house need to be heated, to 60°F? What would you guess the average number of gallons of heating oil is used per year for a 2000 squ ft house. I was estimating 2000, close?

[RayinAK]

Well, let me tell you about my house not too far from Fairbanks. It gets real cold in Delta Junction, nothing like you have experienced before. It's cold and dry most times, and often very windy during the winter and summer months. It starts getting cold to below freezing, sometimes by mid September, sometimes a week or two later. By Hallowing, it could be around -20 degrees sometimes. If you look at the weather forecast for Delta Junction this month, you will notice that the temperatures are still dropping below zero depending on the week. Right now it's not too bad, but it can still get very cold before Spring. The snow in the backyards start melting around April (depending on the year), but you can see ice or packed snow off the road through May, and June sometimes (down the Richardson Highway). Summit Lake, located around 45 minutes driving time from Delta Junction is still quite frozen in April, and that's when the Arctic Man takes place at that lake.

It's a bad idea to keep the house heated to 60 degrees, unless that house is super insulated to retain heat when the electric power goes out, something that is common in these areas of Alaska. It's best to heat the house to 70 degrees, unless you have installed an emergency temperature monitor that can automatically dial your cell phone number to tell you the house is freezing. When the power goes out, so does the furnace or boiler in the house.

My house has 1,700 Sq.-foot of living space, plus a built-in 2-car garage that's heated, sitting on 1.25 acre lot. I keep the garage's temperature at 50 degrees, and the house at 67. It's a very well insulated house, so my utilities bill (heating fuel and electricity) costs me $600.00 per month times 12 months as long as heating fuel costs $3.22 per gallon. However, when it reaches around $4.00 per gallon as it has been predicted, I will be paying around $800.00 per month, since electricity too is supposed to cost more by summer. I pay nearly $3,000 per year on property tax, and around $200.00 per year for septic pumping. Some folks are already paying over $1,000 per month on utilities alone.

[jinj]

Thanks Ray, good information.
Do all newer houses have triple pain windows and are very well insulated?

Thats a lot of heating costs, makes me wonder how in all the small villages, that poorer people pay for heat.

I stayed in Watson Lake, Yukon once where my truck would barely start, it was around -55°F, and of course I didn't have an engine block heater.
Do all places in Delta/Fairbanks have places to plug the heater in?
When I was at a Walmart in Whitehorse, it seems like everyone just left their cars running while inside.

[stiffnecked]

Get a spare key and lock the door when you get out of the truck with the engine still running. Get an "auto-start" and it will automatically start the engine and run it until it reaches a preset temperature. There are various ways around not having constant access to plugins.

[arctichomesteader]

Thats a lot of heating costs, makes me wonder how in all the small villages, that poorer people pay for heat.

You could use wood heat. Assuming you don't buy enough land to supply your own wood, you can get a permit to get it from govt. land cheap. You may also consider buying/building a smaller house than 2000 Sq. ft. to conserve energy, but of course that's up to you...

Regarding construction quality, who knows what you might get, I don't know for sure with Delta, but many places in AK have no (or at least not enforced) or very relaxed building codes, so you need to be sure to see what you're actually getting, but that's really true anywhere anyways regardless of building codes or lack of them, as unscrupulous builders can find many ways to cut corners.

[daytripper]

Sorry to get off topic....there used to be a bar called the Evergreen in Delta Juction back in the late 70's. Is it still there??????