Alaska timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Alaska — published stumpage values by species, and a free calculator that turns them into a figure for your own land.
Quick answer
These are stumpage prices for Alaska — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for sawtimber, all species, federal sale average is $41 per thousand board feet, reported by Alaska Forest Association for undated. Delivered or mill log prices are a different and much higher number, because they include the cost of cutting and hauling the wood. TimberClear lists 26 Alaska foresters, buyers, loggers and mills who work this timber. What a particular stand brings is settled by a timber cruise, not by a price list.
If you own woodland in Alaska and you are wondering what it is worth, the number you want is the stumpage price — what a buyer pays you for timber while it is still standing. The most recent published figure for sawtimber, all species, federal sale average in Alaska is $41 per thousand board feet, reported by Alaska Forest Association for undated. The full table is below.
Two prices get quoted in this business and they are not the same. Stumpage is what reaches you. Delivered, sometimes called the mill or log price, is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard — and the difference between them is the cost of doing all that work. Delivered prices are easier to find online, they are a good deal higher, and a landowner who mistakes one for the other walks into a sale expecting money that was never on the table. Everything on this page is stumpage.
One thing to know before you read the table. This is the average the federal government receives for standing timber on the Tongass, published by the industry association. It is the only Alaska stumpage figure that can be cited, it is not dated, and it is not a private-land price.
Alaska stumpage prices by species
Alaska Forest Association, undated
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Sawtimber, all species, federal sale average | $41 |
Source: Alaska Forest Association, undated. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Alaska?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,090 to $2,170 for pine and other softwood and $390 to $780 for hardwood. Smaller trees, a thinner stand or a partial cut bring less. It's a ballpark, not an appraisal.
What is your timber worth?
The table above is the price. The calculator turns it into a figure for your land — it asks your acreage, your species, how big the trees are and how thick they stand, then works the estimate from the prices above. About a minute, and no email needed to see it.
What are my trees worth in Alaska?
A price list cannot answer that on its own, and any site that tells you otherwise is guessing. Three things decide what an acre brings, and only you can see them: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and what species they are.
Our free timber value calculator asks those three questions and works an estimate from Alaska's own published prices, the ones in the table on this page. It gives you a range rather than a single figure, because a range is the honest shape of the answer. It takes about a minute and it does not ask for your email to show you the number.
Worth knowing about the Alaska market
Most of Alaska's commercial timber is on Alaska Native corporation land in the southeast, and much of it is exported as logs. No agency publishes an Alaska price series.
How much forest Alaska has, and who owns it
Alaska has 128.7 million acres of forest land. 11.0 million acres in nonindustrial private hands, across 42,062 owners.
The wood itself: Southeast — Sitka spruce, western hemlock, western redcedar and Alaska yellow-cedar. Interior — white spruce and birch.. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Whether Alaska's harvest law applies to you depends on which side of the state you are on — the threshold is 10 acres on the coast but 40 acres in the Interior, so the same size cut can be regulated near Ketchikan and unregulated near Fairbanks.
Sources: apps.fs.usda.gov · forestry.alaska.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Alaska?
Before any commercial timber operation on private land you must file a Detailed Plan of Operations with the state forester. It is a notification rather than a permit — if the agencies do not respond within the review window, you may proceed.
The Forest Resources and Practices Act applies above a size threshold that varies by region: over 10 acres on the coast, over 40 acres in the Interior. Any size operation touching surface water or a riparian area is covered regardless.
Source: forestry.alaska.gov
What the Division of Forestry & Fire Protection will do for you, free
A no-cost Forest Stewardship Plan — a regional stewardship forester visits and writes a 10-year plan covering inventory, forest health, wildfire risk, habitat and planting. Seven or more forested acres qualifies.
Worth taking. A state service forester does not bid on your timber and does not take a commission, so the advice comes without a stake in the outcome. They will not run your sale for you — that is a consulting forester's job — but they will tell you what you have before anybody makes you an offer.
Source: forestry.alaska.gov
Getting the best price for your timber
The single biggest lever is competition. One buyer who turns up and makes an offer has no reason to bid against himself. A sealed-bid sale, run by a consulting forester who invites several buyers to price the same marked timber, routinely moves the final number by a wide margin — and it costs you a share of the sale rather than money up front.
Before any of that, have the timber cruised. A cruise is a forester walking your land and measuring what is actually standing, so you are selling a known quantity instead of taking somebody's word for it.
Ask how the wood will be measured and how you will be able to check it. Whatever the unit, a sale you cannot verify afterwards is a sale you are taking on trust.
And put the terms in writing before anybody starts: what gets cut, what stays, what the land looks like when they leave, and when you get paid.
TimberClear lists 26 Alaska foresters, buyers, loggers and mills. Every listing is free and complete, including the phone number the business already publishes. We have not vetted, verified or endorsed any of them — the listing tells you who they are and what counties they cover, and the choosing is yours.
26 Alaska timber businesses
Foresters, buyers, loggers and mills, with the counties each one covers. Free and complete.
Compare states side by side
Pick any states and see their prices next to each other.
Timber price questions in Alaska
What are timber prices in Alaska right now?
Alaska Forest Association reports sawtimber, all species, federal sale average at $41 per thousand board feet for undated. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Alaska are listed on this page, and they move every quarter.
What is stumpage value?
Stumpage is the price paid for timber while it is still standing — the money that reaches the landowner. It is not the same as a delivered or mill log price, which is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard. The gap between the two is the cost of doing that work, and it is large. A delivered price quoted as though it were stumpage will make timber look worth far more than it is.
How much is an acre of timber worth in Alaska?
It depends on three things the price list cannot tell you: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and whether they are sawtimber or pulpwood size. Sawtimber is worth several times what pulpwood is worth per ton. TimberClear's free timber value calculator asks those questions and works the estimate from Alaska's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Does Alaska publish its own timber prices?
This is the average the federal government receives for standing timber on the Tongass, published by the industry association. It is the only Alaska stumpage figure that can be cited, it is not dated, and it is not a private-land price.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Alaska?
Before any commercial timber operation on private land you must file a Detailed Plan of Operations with the state forester. It is a notification rather than a permit — if the agencies do not respond within the review window, you may proceed. The Forest Resources and Practices Act applies above a size threshold that varies by region: over 10 acres on the coast, over 40 acres in the Interior. Any size operation touching surface water or a riparian area is covered regardless.
Who can help me manage my timber in Alaska for free?
The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection. A no-cost Forest Stewardship Plan — a regional stewardship forester visits and writes a 10-year plan covering inventory, forest health, wildfire risk, habitat and planting. Seven or more forested acres qualifies.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Alaska?
Get more than one offer. A sealed-bid sale run by a consulting forester puts buyers in competition with each other, and that is the single biggest lever a landowner has. Have the timber cruised first so you know what you are selling, and put the terms in writing before anybody starts cutting. TimberClear lists 26 Alaska businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.