The state of the lumber market

I’m pretty disappointed to find the one logger willing to work on my property bring his driveway-building assistant to tell me my oak trees aren’t worth anything except as firewood and that I’d have to come up with $50,000 for a driveway and clearing.

Only a few years ago a young couple in Pennsylvania posted a YT video about how they were able to contract a forester advocate, loggers, and contractors and still net $20,000 on a *partial* logging of 6 acres.

If I am on my own with this project so be it.

But what is the value in land if there is nothing to leverage for gain?

Yeah, this is throwing up some red flags. Consult with other logging outfits, look for local recommendations. Not only would I want my trees fairly evaluated, but I would want a logging outfit that will respect my property and not tear it up like some do.

Don't get down on yourself, it is like getting someone to work on your house. Vet them, hold them to a standard, and don't be afraid to walk away if they can't meet your basic requirements.

Timothy Norton wrote:Yeah, this is throwing up some red flags. Consult with other logging outfits, look for local recommendations. Not only would I want my trees fairly evaluated, but I would want a logging outfit that will respect my property and not tear it up like some do.

Don't get down on yourself, it is like getting someone to work on your house. Vet them, hold them to a standard, and don't be afraid to walk away if they can't meet your basic requirements.

I’ve been looking for over a year. I’ve called local foresters but no one here is interested in 4-1/2 acres. Of the 2 old-time loggers in these parts one is 65, in poor health and can’t work. The other is over 80 and is the one I referred to in my OP.

I don’t mean to suggest that it’s hopeless or that I’m out of options. The lumber mill said they’d buy my stumpage and quoted $45-$55 per ton.

I just don’t understand how the market is so bad here in Georgia.

Vanessa Smoak wrote:
I just don’t understand how the market is so bad here in Georgia.

I don't think it's necessarily just a Georgia problem, or even just a timber problem. The whole country is in an upside down clown world state where the better and more useful the resource you have to sell is, the less you get for it. Timber, farming, and anything else that has to do with a commodity, you get just the bare minimum amount to keep the credit line open because the 'you vil own nothing' types have it set up where they can import from halfway across the world for cheap while they piles taxes and regulations on domestic production. But as blackpilled as that sounds, its not hopeless, it may just require some out of the box thinking. A lot of small farms are finding sucess by direct marketing to customers, maybe there's a way to do that with timber as well? Maybe you could team up with a woodworker and a guy with a portable sawmill and sell some kind of value added product instead of just timber? It won't be easy, but hopefully you can find some way to make it worthwhile.

Vanessa,

Just throwing another option out here for you.  You may have already considered it, but have you tried going on some draft animal power logging forums (Rural Heritage) or 4H groups and asking around there?  I mention it because there are many young 4H oxen teams looking for work to do with their trained steers, and horse/mule/oxen logging is much more environmentally friendly & easier on your property than heavy equipment is.  Plus, you can selectively harvest any trees you want, & leave the ones you want because unlike heavy equipment that will want to make a road everywhere they're used, the draft team can just walk around/between trees you want left.  I don't know your timeline, but they typically prefer to log in to the winter months for cool weather & ease of skidding, but if you start now, surely you can find someone willing.  

If you want to see what this kind of operation looks like, there a loads of videos on youtube.  The best source seems to be Rural Heritage.  Good Luck!

Vanessa Smoak wrote:Only a few years ago a young couple in Pennsylvania posted a YT video about how they were able to contract a forester advocate, loggers, and contractors and still net $20,000 on a *partial* logging of 6 acres.

You can find any success story on YoutTube, but the average experience is usually like yours.

Vanessa Smoak wrote:If I am on my own with this project so be it.
But what is the value in land if there is nothing to leverage for gain?

This is the best approach. The actual value of the land is usually very low and it's just bloated by real estate/banking. Usually land needs a lot of input - in the form of money and hard labor of the owner to increase its value for the owner, but marginally for the system.
Loggers, like all contractors, overcharge on everything. Sure, it's a very dangerous job, but you still pay premium. They would probably love to cut your perfectly straight walnut and then give you maybe few hundred dollars for the lumber worth tens of thousands, but with some regular oak they will not bother.

To market the lumber yourself will take years of effort plus a mill, tractor that can move and load logs, good chainsaws and TONS of labor. You could be milling heavy beams for heavy timber structures, but at the same time you could discover that your oaks are twisted/hollowed/diseased/infested and not a lot of good lumber can be produced at all.