Timber value calculator
Put a working range on your standing timber before you talk to a buyer. Pick your species and region, enter your acreage, then add the volume and price you have. Every number in the result comes from you — the tool just does the arithmetic in the open.
Your estimate
Fill in your acreage, volume per acre and a price to see a range.
How the estimate is calculated
There is no national price for standing timber, so this tool does not invent one. It makes the standard method visible and lets your own numbers drive it:
- Total volume = acres × merchantable volume per acre. The volume per acre comes from a cruise, a forester, or your own count of the merchantable trees.
- Estimated value = total volume × price per unit. The price is what a buyer or a current local report tells you, in the same unit (board feet, tons or cords).
- Per-acre value = estimated value ÷ acres. Use this to compare your tract with what neighbours are being offered.
If you give a low and a high price, the result is a range. That is usually more useful than one number, because buyers quote differently and grade changes the outcome.
Where to get the two inputs. The volume comes from a timber cruise — sampling the tract and scaling up. The price comes from current local quotes and reports. The timber prices per acre guide explains where those numbers come from.
What changes your number
Two tracts of the same size can be worth very different amounts. Before you rely on any estimate, look at:
- Species and grade. A veneer walnut log and a pulpwood pine are not the same product.
- Volume and stocking. How many merchantable trees per acre, and how big are they.
- Access and terrain. Steep ground, wet ground and long skid distances cost the buyer money.
- Local mill demand. Price is set where the wood can be sold, not by a national average.
- Timing and market. Prices move, and a buyer's current need can matter as much as the species.
For the per-species and per-unit detail, see the timber price reference. For the small-lot case, where you are counting trees rather than acres, use the per-tree value guide. And when you are ready to learn the process and the contract, read how a timber sale works.
Now get competing bids
An estimate is a starting point, not an offer. The way to find out what your timber is really worth is to let buyers compete for it. Send your tract details to hello@logmytrees.com or use the form on the home page.
Timber value calculator: common questions
How does the timber value calculator work?
It is simple, visible arithmetic. It multiplies your acreage by the merchantable volume per acre you enter, then multiplies that volume by the price per unit you enter. Species and region set the units and the guidance; your cruise and your quotes supply the numbers.
Why do I have to enter my own price?
Because there is no single honest national price to plug in. Stumpage and delivered prices change constantly and vary by species, grade, product, mill and county. A calculator that hard-codes one national price would be guessing. Your local quotes are the real number.
What is a timber cruise?
A cruise measures the volume and quality of the timber on a tract by sampling plots or trees, then scaling up. It is the standard way to know how much wood you have. A consulting forester or a timber buyer can cruise your tract.
Is the estimate the same as an appraisal?
No. This is a planning range built from your own inputs. A formal timber appraisal or a sealed-bid sale, run by a consulting forester, will be more detailed and is what you would rely on for a large or high-value tract.
What if I only have a few trees, not acres of timber?
Then the per-tree question is the better fit. See what a single tree is worth for the small-lot, 1 to 40 acre case, where counting individual stems matters more than averaging over acres.
A planning tool, not an appraisal. Values and grades vary by state, species, product and tract. Confirm with a consulting forester or a licensed timber buyer before you sell.